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C.OMBIGHT DEPOSrr. 



SPIRITISM AND RELIGION 



SPIRITISM and RELIGION 

"Can You Talk to the Dead?" 

INCLUDING 

A STUDY OF THE MOST REMARKABLE 
CASES OF SPIRIT CONTROL 



BY 

BARON JOHAN LILJENCRANTS, A. M., S. T.D. 



With Foreword by Maurice Francis Egan, LL.D. 

Late United States Minister to Denmark 




NEW YORK 
THE DEVIN-ADAIR CO. 



^ if- 

NIHIL OBSTAT 

Arthur J. Scanlan, S. T. D. 

Censor Librorum 

IMPRIMATUR 

* John Cardinal Farley 

Archbishop of New York 



Copyright, 1918, 

by 

The Devin-Adair Co. 

All rights reserved by 
The Devin-Adair Co. 



JAN -2 1919 

©CLA508831 

.-wo } 



EMINENT APPRECIATIONS 

For five long years of war we have been living daily 
in the shadow of the hand of God. There has been no 
one of us untouched. The purge of suffering has been 
withheld from no man or woman. Alike we have had to 
bear the common burden and inspire ourselves to the 
thought of loss as well as gain. 

No matter what our religion, our minds have been 
confronted daily with the awful yet wonderful and 
thrilling presence of the Hereafter. No one can escape 
the thought of it, the fact of it; nor can any one escape 
the relentless questioning that it forces upon every mind 
capable of even momentary thought. 

The only serene questioning has been, and can be, 
that of the man whose faith is sure, whose grasp of Reve- 
lation is firm and steady. There is no barrier between 
him and his God, no wall of mystery or uncertainty 
about his dear and noble dead, that he has neither eyes 
to pierce nor power to climb. Neither is there in his 
heart a hunger after impossible, unobtainable knowledge 
of the realm beyond our bourne of time and place. He 
has already beheld it with the eyes and heard its story 
with the ears of Revelation, and knows that it is fair. 
The only longing he can have is longing for it and for 
the company of the great, courageous souls who have 
fought the fight for liberty and justice and are now 
resting from the battle. Of them and of their destiny 
he has no questioning. He waits only the hour of his 
own summons, and until that golden moment goes on 
his way in peace. 

This book on Spiritism is scholarly; it is scientific; it 
is sound in its thinking. I consider it a real advance in 
the literature of Spiritism. 

(Signed) J. Card. Gibbons. 



Spiritism and Religion is beyond doubt the best 
booh' on that subject in the English language. In its- 
clear and comprehensive account of the phenomena and 
practices of Spiritism, its concise presentation of the 
opinions of authorities in this field, and its keen analysis 
and criticism of both phenomena and authorities, it is 
easily without a rival. It is scientific without being dry, 
and its conclusions will not easily be overthrown . 

John A. Ryan, D. D., 

Professor of Sociology, 
Catholic University of America, 

Washington, D. C. 



To Q. P., Whose Loyal Friendship Has 

Been a Tower of Strength, 

This Book is Dedicated 

by 

The Author 



DISSERTATION 

Submitted to the Faculty of the Sacred Sciences at the Catholic 

University of America in partial fulfilment of the 

requirements for the Doctorate in Theology 



vn 



TABLE OF CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

Foreword 3 

Preface 7 

Introduction 9 

Chapter I. History of Modern Spiritism 18 

II. Physical Phenomena 45 

III. Physical Phenomena (Continued) 67 

IV. Psychical Phenomena 90 

V. Genuine and Spurious Phenomena 119 

VI. Spiritism and Psychology 181 

VII. Spirit Identity 212 

VIII. Spiritism as a Religion 248 

IX. Moral Aspects of Spiritism 268 

Bibliography 282 

Index 287 

Biographical Note 296 



FOREWORD. 

Dr. Liljencrants has produced a book that ought to 
appeal to all persons interested in the problem we call 
Spiritism, which we formerly called very carelessly 
"Spiritualism." Belonging in a generation in years — 
I hope not in mind — to which this problem was of every- 
day interest and conversation, I, from my youth, fol- 
lowed its evolutions (it has had little progress) with 
keen curiosity. This curiosity might have been more 
scientific if I had not been prevented by the stern 
authority of my parents — with whom, as with most 
Americans of the generation of the middle of the last 
century, Mesmer and the Fox Sisters and Katie King 
were household words — and afterwards by obedience to 
the Decree of the Sacred Congregation, from examining 
personally the methods by which some of my acquaint- 
ances and friends reached the conclusion that they were 
dealing with spirits from another world. Among these 
was the late W. T. Stead, who often told me of the 
recreations of "Julia," and repeated messages of no 
great importance from Cardinal Manning. I knew 
many, bereaved and inconsolable, who went to Spiritism 
with all the fervor that has characterized Sir Oliver 
Lodge and Sir Conan Doyle. In England and in our 
own country many more are turning to-day to the only 
way they know of communicating with those whom they 
have loved and lost awhile. 

It is not enough to say that the spiritistic phenomena 
are diabolical. If they are, according to my observation 
the Devil and his satellites have lost their much-adver- 
tised cleverness. Does anybody imagine, who can con- 
ceive what the Devil is capable of, that he has anything 



4 Foreword 

to do with the revelations in "Raymond" — that pathetic 
manifestation of fatherly affection? One does not com- 
pare "Raymond" with the eccentricities of the Fox 
Sisters and Katie King, but it is evident to the dis- 
passionate that some of the messages to the bereaved 
father are as little worthy of respect as the revelations 
of those whose names, once notorious in the newspapers, 
are forgotten. But Sir Oliver Lodge's book does not 
stand alone; it is a symptom of a widespread mental 
condition accentuated and made more general by the 
terrible losses of this war. And, hence, Dr. Liljen- 
crants's study must attract wide attention. 

Hitherto, the strictly orthodox Christian has said of 
all spiritistic manifestations that were not on the surface 
fraudulent, "It is the Devil, of course." In this way 
His Satanic Majesty has been made to appear rather 
ridiculous than terrible. The principles of the con- 
servative Christian have not permitted him to go further 
than this, and, after all, if one is to give the Devil his 
due, one ought, in justice, to discover whether he is really 
so foolish as, in this particular line, he is supposed to 
show himself. 

As there is such a thing as diabolical possession, there 
ought to be some means of discovering whether the 
doomed swine rushed into the sea because evil spirits 
urged them on, or whether natural causes were responsi- 
ble for their extinction. Hitherto, the conservative 
either accepted all kinds of blood-curdling statements 
without examination, or, like the late believers in Leo 
Taxil, preferred his special Devil and did not want to be 
disturbed in his belief in him! Dr. Liljencrants, strictly 
orthodox as he is, is one of the first of his kind to ap- 
proach this delicate subject with an open mind. He is 
nothing if not scientific. 

His equally orthodox colleague, Dr. Raupert, had, 
before his conversion, the advantage of examining per- 
sonally the manner in which seances are conducted. To 



Foreword 5 

my mind, it is a great pity that some among the ortho- 
dox, scientifically trained, have not had the same advan- 
tage — or perhaps I ought to say the same disadvantage 
— as Dr. Raupert, who gained his knowledge in ways 
forbidden to many. As it is, "Spiritism and Religion" 
is the nearest thing to what we really need. 

It seems strange to those around us that the Fox 
Sisters, Katie King, and that colossal impostor cele- 
brated by Browning, Daniel Dunglas Home, should 
have ever been taken seriously, but they were, and by 
intelligent persons, too, in my memory. Katie King 
was looked on as a diabolical person until a very clever 
young journalist, Mr. Louis Magargee, I think, of 
Philadelphia, unmasked her; and the diablerie of the 
Fox Sisters filled with horror those who did not accept 
them as seeresses — until it was discovered that one of the 
ladies used the joint of a versatile big toe as a means 
of conveying conversations from the spirit world! 

Brownson's "Spirit Rapper," once in vogue, gave us 
no clue to the methods of these modern imitators of 
Cagliostro. So far as I can see, the Devil would be very 
foolish to exert extraordinary means to seize the souls 
of people who showed very evident tendencies to be his 
without unusual efforts on his part ! 

Dr. Liljencrants does not contradict the real mystic; 
the false mystic, that is, the person who prefers to see 
miracles and diabolic possessions where the melancholy 
Jaques found books and sermons, will naturally shrink 
with disgust at his method, for the Doctor examines dis- 
passionately and calmly testimony and evidence, and 
leads us to the conclusion that in most of the advertised 
"spiritistic" cases supernatural or preternatural causes 
are absent. The book is most opportune, for half the 
desolate world seems to be crying out for the raising of 
the curtain between this world and the next — 

"... and with no language but a cry." 



6 Foreword 

These stricken ones, pathetic, pitiable, worthy of 
sympathy — above all, worthy of prayer — will be all the 
better for the unveiling of the false mysteries to which 
many of them are turning. 

Maurice Francis Egan. 



PREFACE. 

As a normative science dealing with the morality of 
human acts, Moral Theology is constantly confronted 
with new problems brought up by the progress of 
civilization. New discoveries, new philosophies, new 
beliefs, new political and economic conditions and 
theories, all have their moral and theological aspects. 
It is, therefore, the function of Moral Theology to ap- 
ply to every new phase of human activity, which has a 
moral bearing, the already established principles of 
morality, and to set forth such rules of conduct as may 
be applicable to this new phase in practical life. 

In exercising this function Moral Theology draws 
upon principles which in their foundation, as based upon 
Divine Revelation, are unchangeable, and throughout 
the ages present an unvarying and supreme standard 
of morality. In the application of these principles, 
however, its verdict may undergo changes and modifi- 
cations following those which take place in the issues 
themselves or in their relation to political, economic and 
social life and its development. Thus, for example, 
older Theologians would condemn the taking of inter- 
est as being usury, while modern Theologians, alive to 
the changes which have taken place in economic con- 
ditions, recognize the productive nature of capital and 
allow interest within just limits. Again, the progress 
of scientific discovery has brought many an issue into 
a new light. From the superstitious practices of 
astrology and alchemy, severely condemned by Theo- 
logians, emerged the sciences of astronomy and chemis- 
try, the usefulness and lawfulness of which were im- 
mediately recognized. 

We believe that a similar change is gradually taking 
place in the subject which concerns us in this treatise. 
Physical Research, which is rapidly gaining recognition 



8 Preface 

as a new branch of science, is gradually bringing a large 
portion of the Spiritistic phenomena, and the occult in 
general, into the realm of nature, divesting it — in its 
objective nature — of the attributes of a preternatural 
order with which it, until very recently, has been gener- 
ally conceived. It is in an attempt to adjust the 
theological verdict on Spiritism to this new order of 
things that this book is written. 

At present Physical Research is an emerging branch 
of science, and the results it has so far achieved are to a 
large extent necessarily vague and lacking definiteness 
and solidity. This has increased both the difficulty of 
our undertaking and the matter presented preliminary 
to the theological discussion of the subject. Whatever 
results we may have obtained we owe in large measure 
to the members of the Faculty of Sacred Theology of 
the Catholic University of America, under whose 
generous guidance this work has been prosecuted. Par- 
ticularly do we wish to acknowledge our indebtedness 
to four members of this Faculty, the Reverend 
Doctors John W. Melody, John A. Ryan, Edmund T. 
Shanahan, and Patrick J. Healy. 

The Catholic University or America. 
August 1, 1918. 



INTRODUCTION. 

The year 1848 saw the birth of a popular and, at 
least in its subsequent development, a religious move- 
ment which for over half a century has made much 
noise, not only in the United States of America where 
its cradle stood, but also abroad, throughout the civilized 
world. Perhaps more commonly known under the 
name of Spiritualism, but at any rate more correctly 
under that of Spiritism, 1 it is founded upon the belief 
that the living can, and actually more or less at will do, 
communicate with the spirits of the departed. It pre- 
sents a threefold element. Besides the fundamental 
belief in intercommunication between the living and the 
dead, we find in it the various practices by which such 
communication is attempted and a collection of partly 
vague religious creeds derived from what is 4 held to be 
revelation contained in messages from the beyond. In 
its turn the fundamental belief in communication with 
the departed rests upon the interpretation of various 
obscure phenomena as indicating the agency of de- 
parted men and women. 

. While the Spiritistic movement is distinctly modern, 
its essential features are probably as old as the human 
race. We find them in what is known as Necromancy, 
or the — at least presumed — evocation of the spirits of 
the departed for the purpose of divination, practiced in 
all ages and rather universally, but especially among 
pagan peoples. 

Such practices have always been "common among the 
fakirs of India; the Chaldean magicians in all prob- 

1 Spiritualism rightly denotes a philosophical doctrine which holds, in 
general, that there is a spiritual order of beings no less real than the 
material, and, in particular, that the soul of man is a spiritual sub- 
stance. — Edw. A. Pace in Cath. Encyclop. Art. "Spiritism." 

For our choice of term we also find support in the French and Ger- 
man languages in which "Spiritisme" and "Spiritismus," respectively, 
are predominantly used, and also among certain English, American, and 
Italian writers. 



10 Introduction 

ability introduced them among the ancient Egyptians, 
who brought them to a flourishing state; they exist in 
China since time immemorial and constituted an im- 
portant element in the religious ideas of ancient Persia. 
In classical Greece the oracles were being constantly in- 
voked and necromancers could be consulted in many 
favored places. Even Socrates and Aristotle indulged 
in conversations with spirits. 1 Nor was Necromancy 
unknown among the Romans, as may be gathered from 
the works of Cicero, Pliny the Elder, Horace, Lucan 
and others. 2 

The Old Testament shows that the Hebrews were 
acquainted with similar practices. 3 Thus, to give but 
one example, Saul conversed with the spirit of Samuel 
evoked by a certain woman of Endor who was endowed 
with a divining spirit. 4 The frequency of their pro- 
hibition found in the Sacred Books and the severity 
with which these practices were punished, would show 
that they were by no means uncommon. 5 

In the first Christian centuries Necromancy was ex- 
tensively practiced by the pagans in the Roman Em- 
pire. 6 But with the spread of Christianity, in which it 
met a relentless enemy, it gradually lost its strict signifi- 
cance and became identified with witchcraft and other 
forms of magic in which for the most part evil spirits 
were given the place of the souls departed. 

It is interesting to note that some of the most promi- 
nent features of modern Spiritism are found in the 

1 Arist., "de Mirab," 160. 

2 Cicero, "Tusculane" i: 16, 37; "de Divinatione," i:58, 132; Pliny the 
E., "Hist.," xxx:6; Horace, "Satira," vii; "Epod." iii, xii, xvii; Lucan, 
"Pharsalia," lib. vi. 

3 IV Kings, xvii: 17, xxi:6, xxiii:24; II Paralip., xxxiii:6; Isaias, 
viii:19, xix:3, xxix:4. 

4 1 Kings, xxv, iii: 7-20; cfr. Ecclus., xlvi:23, and Div. Thorn. Aquin. 
Summa Theol. 2.2(F q. xcv., a. iv., ad 2. 

B Levit. xix:31, xx:6; Deut. xviii:ll, 12; Levit. xx:27; I Kings, 
xxviii : 9. 

9 Tertull., "Apolog." xiii, xxii ; "de Anim.," lvi, lvii ; Minucii Felic. 
"Octav." xxvii, xxviii; Lactant., "Dio Instit.," iv:27; Hilarii in Ps. 94; 
Euseb., "Hist. Eccl.," viii:14. 



Introduction 11 

ancient practices of Necromancy. Communication with 
the spirits was frequently undertaken through the 
medium of a person thought to possess special faculties 
for such intercourse, and spirit-communications were 
often received by these intermediaries while in somnam- 
bulistic sleep. The priestess in the tower of Belos in 
Babylonia obtained her information while in a trance, 1 
and in the temple of Serapis at Canopus in Egypt great 
worship was performed and many miraculous works 
were wrought, which the most eminent men believed, 
while others devoted themselves to the sacred sleep. 2 
The consecrated temple at Alexandria had similar fame, 
and old Egyptian paintings show figures of priests mak- 
ing "magnetic passes" and entering into the somnam- 
bulistic state. Zoroaster entered by trance into the 
heavenly world and the Pythias were entranced before 
receiving inspiration from Apollo. We recognize some 
of the so-called physical phenomena of modern Spirit- 
ism, such as "levitation" and "elongation," among the 
miracles of Indian fakirs both of old and of to-day. 3 

The belief in ghosts making their presence known by 
auditory or visual manifestations is ancient. So also 
the belief that various mysterious physical disturbances 
observed from time to time, such as flinging of objects, 
upsetting of furniture, ringing of bells and producing 
sundry noises, are to be ascribed to spirit-agencies. 
Many of these disturbances bear a striking resemblance 
to certain phenomena occurring in the modern seance- 
room. 

In 1661 the presence of a drum taken from a vagrant 
drummer by Squire Mompesson of Tedworth in Wilt- 
shire gave all indications of being the cause of mys- 
terious hangings on the Squire's doors, levitation of his 
children, rappings, moving of furniture and the appear- 

1 Herodotus, Hist., lib. i, 180-183. 

2 Strabo, Geogr., lib. xvii, c. i, § 17. 

3 Philostrat., "Vita Apollon. Tyan." lib. iii, c. 15, 17. 



12 Introduction 

ing of "a great body with two red and glaring eyes." 1 
In 1716 the home of the Reverend Samuel Wesley at 
Epworth was similarly haunted, the ghost apparently 
preferring the company of the children. 2 Lord 
Brougham in 1799 had an apparition of a former 
schoolmate on the night of his death and under rather 
peculiar circumstances. 3 Accounts of similar disturb- 
ances and apparitions could be multiplied at pleasure; 
hardly a single estate or castle in Europe lacks its pe- 
culiar ghost. 



Occult phenomena, then, of various kinds and 
ascribed mostly to the agency of the departed, have 
been recorded in abundant quantity from all parts of 
the globe and all ages. But there is no logical or 
historical connection between these and the movement 
known as Modern Spiritism which arose in 1848. Yet, 
however sudden may have been the rise of Modern 
Spiritism, it can not be said to have sprung into being 
on unprepared soil, for its way had been broken by 
Swedenborgianism and Mesmerism, which may be said 
to have been its direct forerunners. We think a few 
words concerning these movements will not be amiss 
in this connection. 

Mesmerism made its first appearance as a popular 
system of curing diseases. It was Mesmer's theory, as 
elaborated in his dissertation for the doctorate in 
medicine, 4 that the new force which he claimed to have 
discovered, and which he named "Animal Magnetism," 
consisted of a very subtle fluid capable of receiving and 
communicating all impressions of motion independently 
of distance or intermediary agents. This fluid he held 

1 Glanvill's "Sadducismus Triumphatus," quoted by H. Addington 
Bruce in "Historic Ghosts and Ghost Hunters," p. 28. 

2 Bruce, Op. cit., pp. 36-55. 

3 Ibid., pp. 102-119. 

4 "De Vinfluence des Pianettes sur le corps humain" Vicuna 1766. 



Introduction 13 

to be a medium of mutual influence between bodies 
celestial, the earth and human beings, manifested par- 
ticularly in human bodies. 

Mesmer's "baquet" rapidly became popular, a move- 
ment emerged and spread, and its adherents organized 
themselves into "Societies of Harmony." At the same 
time a considerable literature on the subject made its 
appearance. The number of mesmeric practitioners, or 
magnetizers, grew, and in the course of time the rather 
crude methods to which Mesmer's earlier patients had 
been subjected gradually were abandoned and "mag- 
netic passes" became the customary form of treatment. 
In this manner the magnetizer would induce his clients 
into somnambulistic sleep, in which state they often 
were able to diagnose their own diseases as well as those 
of others and to prescribe remedies. 

It was left to Alexandre Bertrand and to Braid to 
find a more natural explanation for the "magnetic 
phenomena" and to lay the foundation for what now is 
known under the name of Hypnotism. In the mean- 
time the popular side of the movement had a rapid 
growth and development. An ever-increasing army of 
professional magnetizers and clairvoyants secured a 
steady stream of converts, the Societies of Harmony 
were extended and the literature on the subject took 
volume. Gradually a new interpretation of the 
phenomena was adopted, associating them with occult 
and mysterious operations of spirits. 

No doubt Swedenborgianism contributed in no small 
degree to this development. Ever since 1745, when 
Swedenborg had his first vision in which our Lord, so 
he believed, initiated him into the spiritual sense of 
Holy Scripture, his trance communications with the 
other world had attracted much attention. Stockholm 
became the center of fashionable spirit-seances, and the 
new theory of communication between the living and 
the dead was readily received by the members of the 



14 Introduction 

Society of Harmony in that capital. In a short time 
Sweden was overrun by mediums delivering messages 
from the departed. Thence the new movement spread 
through the European continent, where it was taken up 
by the mesmerists. In the early part of the nineteenth 
century seances with table-turning and spirit com- 
munications were being held everywhere. 

Science did not fail to give a garb to the new move- 
ment. A school of spiritistic cosmology was founded by 
Professor J. H. Jung- Stilling, according to which there 
exists in man, besides his body and immortal soul, a 
luminous body inseparable from the soul and made of 
ether. In the trance-state, in which the soul is partly 
divested of the material body, it is able to act more 
freely and is capable of perception independently of 
the sense organs. The ether which fills space is the 
abode of spirits, while the atmosphere of the earth har- 
bors the fallen angels and lost human souls. 1 

Perhaps the most remarkable medium of the mesmer- 
istic period was Frederica Hauffe, the "Seeress of 
Provost," who began her early career with prophetic 
and revelatory dreams to which soon were added 
physical phenomena. These latter were particularly de- 
veloped in the home of the famous physician Julius 
Kerner, whom she visited for medical treatment a year 
before her death, which occurred in 1827. Kerner be- 
came convinced of the reality of her spirit intercourse, 
and shortly after her death published an account of her 
trances and trance-revelations. 2 

Before the middle of the nineteenth century Mes- 
merism was largely practiced in North America. Here 
also it mingled with Swedenborgianism and underwent 
a development similar to that in Europe. Its most 



1 "Theorie der Geister-Kunde." 

2 "Die Seherin von Provost, Erbffnungen liber das Innere Leben und 
iiber das Hereinragen einer Geisterwelt in die TJnsere" — Stuttgart und 
Tubingen, 4 Ausg. 1846. 



Introduction 15 

interesting character, perhaps, was Andrew Jackson 
Davis, alias the "Poughkeepsie Seer," who in 1845 gave 
trance lectures in New York, a Dr. Lyon of Bridge- 
port acting as his magnetizer, and these were published 
under the title "The Principles of Nature, Her Divine 
Revelation, and a Voice to Mankind." On the whole 
the work is a jumble of the philosophical doctrines then 
current, including a due portion of evolutionism and 
pantheism. The "Univercoelum" or "Spiritual Philoso- 
pher," a periodical devoted to the exposition of Davis' 
opinions and revelations, made its first appearance in 
1847. His complete works, including the "Great 
Harmonia" are published in 26 volumes. 1 

Popular Mesmerism of this kind was in full develop- 
ment when Spiritism made its entrance into the world. 
The new movement was quickly adopted by the ad- 
herents of the older whose creeds, philosophy and 
prophets it made its own. This fact, and the extension 
which the superseded movement had reached, alone can 
account for the rapidity of growth enjoyed by Spiritism 
from the very outset. 



Of late much serious and fruitful work has been done 
along the lines of Psychical Research, and treatises of 
high scientific merit have been published in which the 
phenomena of Spiritism are closely scrutinized and 
analyzed and theories advanced for their explanation. 
This labor belongs to the realm of psychology and 
physics, and theology finds no place here any more than 
it does in biology. No matter how painstaking has 
been this research, no matter how capable and untiring 
its leaders, so far as positive conclusions regarding the 
nature of the phenomena are concerned very little has 
as yet been established. It is to be hoped that in time 

1 James Burns, London. 



16 Introduction 

Psychical Research will succeed in solving the riddle; 
at present we shall have to abide in its realm by the re- 
sults it so far has reached. 



In the meantime Spiritism has broadly been voicing 
its claims in no uncertain manner, and we need but pick 
at random among popular books, magazines and news- 
papers to receive a notion of the great popularity en- 
joyed by the New Revelation it proclaims to be giving 
to the world. To Spiritists the reality of intercourse 
with the souls of the departed is a fact beyond dispute. 
Upon this conviction they base their firm belief in the 
validity of the Revelation from the beyond — obtained 
through mediums — as being, if not an entirely new Re- 
ligion, at least a new Gospel superseding that of tra- 
ditional Christianity. It is professedly a Religion of the 
laity as opposed to sacerdotalism and spiritual authority, 
and as such it is antagonistic to traditional Christianity. 

"The Church," says one exponent, 1 "seems to ignore 
the ability of the laity. It has not reckoned with the 
force of an advancing tide of criticism — criticism born 
of the Church's own supine stupidity, its belief in its 
own supremacy over the minds and souls of mankind, 
its blind adherence to proved errors, its long and tacit 
acceptance of unprovable facts, its aggressive attitude 
toward Science." "In this indictment of the Church 
lie the reasons for its opposition to spiritualism. The 
Church resents the experiments of those engaged in 
psychic research to establish by scientific means that life 
after death is an absolute fact, that we of this world 
have the power to know what the 'dead' are doing, think- 
ing, saying." 

It is in its popular, religious form that Spiritism 
challenges Christianity, and in this aspect the new move- 

x See The Bookman, Jan. 1918, p. 516. 



Introduction 17 

ment certainly falls within the legitimate field of 
theological discussion. Would it seem, perhaps, that 
in order to arrive at its decision theology would have to 
depend upon the verdict of Psychical Research as to 
the real nature of the messages by which the soi-disant 
Revelation is conveyed? If the verdict were to be had, 
if this nature could be scientifically demonstrated, the 
theological problem would be much simplified. As mat- 
ters now stand the results at hand will not fail to be of 
great assistance. 

But theology is not seeking new proofs of im- 
mortality — it already possesses proofs to that fact of a 
nature infinitely stronger than could ever be produced 
by a poor, weak, entranced spirit-medium. Nor does it 
absolutely deny the possibility of intercourse with the 
departed. Let these two things be proven according to 
the rules of profane science, and theology need not 
open its mouth. But when a new Revelation or a new 
Religion emerges it is time for theology to step in — in 
its rightful province — and to pronounce its verdict in the 
name of Christianity which its represents. 

It is the theological side of the inquiry into Spiritism 
that we shall pursue in this treatise. In general we shall 
endeavor to estimate the value of Spiritism as a Re- 
ligion ; in particular to show that its doctrines can not be 
accepted as offering an amplification and elucidation of 
the Gospel of Christ, but that, on the contrary, Spiritism 
is essentially anti- Christian. 

From a short survey of the Spiritistic movement and 
of its main phenomena we shall pass to a discussion of 
already advanced explanatory theories, and having 
drawn our conclusions from such study we shall deal 
with the religious aspect in itself as well as in the light 
of theology. 



CHAPTER I. 

History of Modern Spiritism. 

In December, 1847, John D. Fox, a Methodist 
farmer, with his wife Margarete and his two youngest 
daughters, Margaretta and Katie, moved into a small 
wooden house in the village of Hydesville, Wayne 
County, New York. David Fox, a married son, lived 
two miles from Hydesville, and a married daughter, 
Mrs. Fish (later successively Mrs. Brown and Mrs. 
Underhill), lived in Rochester, New York. 

The house in question was known to have been the 
scene of mysterious disturbances before the advent of 
the Fox family, and from the time of their arrival 
strange noises were heard, which gradually increased, 
and in February the following year became distinct and 
continuous enough to disturb the sleep of the tenants. 
On Friday evening, March 31st, 1848, the family had 
retired early. Presently the usual noises commenced, 
and at length Katie, being then twelve years old, 
merrily snapped her fingers and called out : "Here, Mr. 
Splitfoot, do as I do!" Instantly the invisible rapper 
responded by imitating the number of her movements. 
Motions made by her noiselessly were repeated by 
knocks, and when discovering this she cried out: "Only 
look, Mother, it can see as well as hear!" 1 

Mrs. Fox now began to question the rapper regard- 
ing the age of her children, and correct answers were 
given by means of knockings. Neighbors were sum- 
moned and the investigation was continued till late in 
the night. 

A system of answering was invented by one of those 
present, by which questions were answered by knockings 

1 Britten, "Modem American Spiritualism," p. 32. 



History of Modern Spiritism 19 

if in the affirmative, by silence if in the negative. By 
this method it was learned that the mysterious rapper 
had been murdered in the house, and after a search hu- 
man remains were found under the floor of the cellar. 
Later a neighbor suggested an alphabet-system, and by 
this means the name of the victim of murder, Charles 
Rosna, 1 was revealed, together with other information. 2 

Thus began the movement of Modern Spiritism, 
which from its origin in the Fox family spread like wild 
fire throughout the North American Continent. 

Shortly after the time of the incidents related 
Margaretta went to Mrs. Fish in Rochester and Katie 
visited at Auburn. In both places the phenomena were 
repeated. Mrs. Fish and many persons in Rochester 
and Auburn became mediums, and in the course of the 
next two or three years the rappings had spread 
throughout the greater part of the Eastern States. 3 In 
1851 there were estimated to be a hundred mediums in 
New York 4 and fifty to sixty private circles in Phila- 
delphia. Both Mrs. Fox and her daughters became 
professional mediums, practicing for money. 

In December, 1850, the Fox girls held public seances 
in Buffalo, New York. There they came under the ob- 
servation of Drs. Flint, Lee and Coventry, who the fol- 
lowing year wrote a joint letter in which they declared 
the phenomena to be produced by "cracking" of the 
knee-joints, 5 and a few months later the girls made a 
confession in which they admitted that the sounds were 
produced with the knees and the toes and that they had 
imparted their art to other girls. 6 In 1888 this confes- 
sion was confirmed and practically demonstrated by 



1 Ibid., p. 39. 

2 Ibid., pp. 29-39; and Podmore, "Modem Spiritualism," vol. I, pp. 
179 et seq. 

3 "Spiritual Philosopher" vol. I, p. 99. 

4 Ibid., vol. Ill, p. 151. 

5 Podmore, "Modern Spiritualism" vol. I, p. 184. 
•Ibid., pp. 185-186. 



20 History of Modern Spiritism 

Margaretta and Katie, then Mrs. Kane and Mrs. 
Jencken, respectively. 1 The exposures and confession 
of 1851, however, did not check the movement. 



In the meantime another set of phenomena had oc- 
curred in the home of the Reverend Dr. Phelps, a 
Presbyterian Minister living with his wife and four 
children in Stratford, Connecticut. In March, 1850, a 
series of disturbances, renewed at intervals for about 
eighteen months, broke out in his house; windows were 
broken by invisible hands, mysterious writing was pro- 
duced and raps were heard by which often blasphemous 
answers were given to questions. On one occasion the 
older boy, being eleven years of age, was carried across 
the room ; another time the heavy dining-room table was 
lifted from the floor. Letters containing mischievous 
and childish satires on Phelps' brother-clergymen were 
thrown from above, and one day the boy was found 
hanged on a tree. Many other mysterious phenomena 
occurred, and the whole affair created considerable 
sensation. Andrew Jackson Davis, then of fame, came 
to Stratford and certified that the disturbances were 
caused by vital electricity discharged from the elder 
boy's organism, whereas others sought an explanation 
in the agency of spirits. 2 

At the very outset Spiritism found an ally in the al- 
ready widespread movement of Mesmerism. A large 
number of professional clairvoyants included in their 
performances "spirit-rappings," Mesmerism furnished 
a popular philosophy to the whole matter, and those who 
had adopted the spiritistic interpretation of the mes- 
meric phenomena eagerly included the rappings among 
the manifestations of spirits. 

^bid., p. 188. 

2 Podmore, "Modern Spiritualism" vol. I, pp. 194-201. 



History of Modern Spiritism 21 

Numerous mesmeristic publications took up the new 
movement, thus insuring its spread, and writers of note, 
such as Laroy and Sunderland — editor of the "Spirit 
World" — became converted to the new belief, which also 
was adopted by many of the Socialistic communities 
flourishing in the middle of the nineteenth century. 

Among prominent converts in the early days may be 
mentioned Horace Greeley and Henry James, the 
Abolitionist W. Lloyd Garrison, the Universalist 
Minister and Social Reformer John Murray Spear, 
John W. Edmunds, Judge of the Supreme Court and 
former Governor of New York, the Hon. N. P. Tall- 
madge, Governor of Wisconsin, and a number of 
Ministers and Social Reformers. The ranks of the 
movement were largely recruited by those who had lost 
sight of all Christian tradition — among these Professor 
Robert Hare — while the most active propagandists 
were furnished by the liberal Protestant sects. In 1854 
some 1,300 persons signed a petition requesting Con- 
gress to investigate the matter, but no action was taken. 

The cult of Spiritism spread to Europe in 1852, be- 
ginning with Scotland. 1 In that year a veritable epi- 
demic of table-turning swept the European Continent, 
spiritistic mediums appearing everywhere busily en- 
gaged in delivering "rap-messages" from the departed. 
It reached England in 1853, where some American 
mediums — among them Mrs. Roberts and Mrs. 
Hayden — had arrived and advertised their professional 
services. It gained many disciples in the Scandinavian 
countries and Russia, where the way had been paved by 
the Swedenborgian movement and occult practices in 
vogue among the Mongols. At the same time it was 
imported into Germany and France, in which latter 
country the first experiments were made simultaneously 

1 Lapponi, "Ipnotismo e Spiritismo," p. 52. 



22 History of Modern Spiritism 

in Paris, Strasbourg, Marseilles, Toulon and Bordeaux 
in April, 1853. Five years later it had reached Italy. 



Spiritism caused great excitement and much discus- 
sion both in America and in Europe. To the original 
phenomena new and more startling ones were rapidly 
added. The early seances usually took place in a dark- 
ened room, more rarely in full light, those present seat- 
ing themselves round a table holding their fingers on 
the edge thereof in such a manner as to form a chain, the 
thumbs of each person touching each other and each 
little finger communicating with the little finger of the 
persons on either side, the medium completing the chain. 
After a few moments the table would begin to move, 
indicating that the spirits were present and prepared 
for further demonstrations. 

However, this introduction was not always neces- 
sary. The arrival of the spirits would often be heralded 
by rappings, which were largely utilized for a means of 
communication as described in connection with the 
original manifestations in the Fox family. Various 
movements, sometimes violent, of furniture and other 
objects would then follow, bells placed under the table 
would be rung, musical instruments in the room played, 
lights would issue from the heads of the sitters and 
spirit-hands clasp their hands and feet. 

During a seance held by Mr. Koons the spirits pro- 
duced a grand concert, "the fiddle, drums, guitar, banjo, 
accordion, French harp, the horn, tea bell, triangle, etc., 
playing their parts." 1 Spirit-hands would make their 
appearance, darting about the room and even utilizing 
the paper and pencil placed on the seance-table for the 
purpose of writing messages which they signed. Certain 
spirits would address the audience, speaking through a 
horn or a trumpet. 

1 Podmore, "Modem Spiritualism," vol. I, p. 248. 



History of Modern Spiritism 23 

Spirit-writing was a common occurrence, messages 
usually being written on paper placed under the seance- 
table or sometimes in sight of the sitters, or on closed 
slates and even on the bare arm and forehead of indi- 
viduals. In Mr. Koons' seance-room a band of sixty- 
five spirits, being pre-Adamite men, revealed them- 
selves under the generic name of King, and these gentle- 
men were lineal ancestors to the famous spirits John 
King and his sister Katie, who have been the joy and 
consolation of two generations of Spiritists throughout 
the world. 1 Add to these phenomena apparitions of 
"materialized" spirit-forms, "levitation" from the floor 
of the medium, "apport" of small objects into closed 
rooms, and handling of burning substances with im- 
punity. Apparitions of the dead known to the audience 
belong to the less frequent phenomena of the early 
stages. 

But not only did phenomena of a mere physical 
nature occur at the early seances. Mrs. Draper of 
Rochester learned from the spirit of Benjamin 
Franklin the art of spirit-telegraphy. The messages 
would be conveyed between two mediums in different 
rooms, or even in different localities, one of whom stood 
in "rapport" with the communicating spirit, and at 
each station the intelligence would be communicated by 
means of knocks resembling the ticking of a telegraphic 
apparatus. There were also mediums who, prompted 
by a spirit, would "speak with tongues," often in a 
language of which they were ignorant. Apart from this 
dubious phenomenon coherent speaking and writing 
were produced under circumstances which strongly sug- 
gested that the human agent spoke and wrote through a 
power not his own. It occurred either in trance or in 
the waking state, automatic trance-speaking being most 
common. 



Podmore, "Modem Spiritualism" vol. I, p. 248. 



24 History of Modern Spiritism 

One of the earliest accounts of automatic writing was 
published in 1852 in "The Pilgrimage of Thomas Paine 
and others to the Seventh Circle by Rev. C. Hammond, 
Medium'' and the best inspirational writing of the time 
is to be found in "The Healing of the Nation' by 
Charles Linton. 1 John Murray Spear in 1853 had 
committed to writing revelations received from the 
spirit-world concerning Ethical, Social, Biological and 
Cosmological truths. 2 T. L. Harris while in trance 
dictated a poem of three to four thousand words en- 
titled "An Epic of the Starry Heaven," composed by 
Dante and other mediaeval spirits. There was also 
automatic playing of music, dancing, crowing and so 
forth, and numerous cases of healing mediums. 



The Foxes continued their mediumship for a long 
time, while a multitude of minor mediums developed, 
chiefly in America. Tallmadge became a medium of 
note, but the most famous of the early performers was 
Mr. Daniel Dunglas Home (Hume) . Born near Edin- 
burgh in 1833 he came with his aunt to America at the 
age of twelve. In 1850, having heard of the Hydes- 
ville "rappings," he was seized by the rapidly grow- 
ing movement and went to New York, where he began 
to hold seances before people of prominence. In 185. r 
Home went to England, where he had the fortune to be 
allowed to perform before members of the highest 
society, thence to the Continent. He held sittings in 
the Tuileries, before the Czar, and in the presence of 
many distinguished members of the European nobility. 
Having married a rich and noble Russian lady he re- 
turned to England in 1859, where between frequent 
trips to the Continent he continued to give seances. In 
the beginning of the seventies he gradually gave up his 

2 New York, 1885. 

2 Published by H. E. Newton as vol. I of the Educator. 



History of Modern Spiritism 25 

mediumship, and after a long illness he died in 1886. 
During a visit to Rome in 1856 Home had been received 
into the Catholic Church. 

Home believed himself a teacher of the truth of im- 
mortality and when entranced frequently delivered dis- 
courses on religious subjects. He would also deliver 
messages from dead friends of members of his circle 
showing an intimate knowledge of the past of the per- 
sons addressed. His physical phenomena consisted in 
raps, movements of objects, shaking of the seance-room, 
playing of musical instruments, production of spirit- 
hands and spirit-lights, levitation and elongation of him- 
self, speaking with spirit-voice, handling of burning 
substances, and various performances common to the 
mediums of the time. He has the unique distinction 
among professional physical mediums never to have 
been exposed as an impostor. 1 

Other famous mediums were Mrs. Hay den and Mrs. 
Roberts, whom we have mentioned in connection with 
the first appearance of Spiritism in England, Mr. 
Robert Owen, whose writings contained messages from 
the dead encouraging his theories, P. B. Randolph, the 
Reverend T. L. Harris and the English medium Mrs. 
Marshall, all physical mediums. Psychical mediumship 
stood on the increase. In some of the professional 
mediums the two forms were common, but for the most 
part the psychic mediums excluded physical phenomena 
with the exception of table-tilting from their seances. 
Writing and speaking mediums sprang up in almost 
every private circle, and by their hand or lips an im- 
pressive collection of famous departed made themselves 
known to mankind. 



1 Podmore, "Modem Spiritualism," vol. I, pp. 223 et seq. ; Idem, 
'Studies, etc.," pp. 52-53. 



26 History of Modem Spiritism 

The second decade of the movement shows a consider- 
able increase of physical mediumship while the psychical 
was pushed more in the background. "Materialization" 
now became more common in America. In 1860 
Robert D. Owen held sittings with the Underhill 
family 1 at which a veiled and luminous female figure 
presented itself and walked about the room. Mr. 
Livermore had sittings with Katie Fox at which the 
spirit of his wife and later that of Benjamin Franklin 
appeared. Similar phenomena were repeated by other 
mediums. 

In the seventies this phenomenon began to be pro- 
duced in England, the first really successful medium 
being Miss Florence Cook, who used a cabinet from 
which the materialized spirits emerged, the most famous 
of whom were John and Katie King, whose acquaint- 
ance we have already made. She was detected in fraud 
in 1873 by Mr. Volksman, who seized the "spirit" — 
being the young lady herself. 2 During the period 1872- 
1880 a large number of mediums appeared in this form 
of manifestation, but there were also numerous ex- 
posures of fraud, indignantly resented by the Spiritists. 3 

Spirit-photography made its first appearance in 
Boston in 1862, when Dr. Gardner of that city an- 
nounced that a photographer named Mumler had 
taken photographs of him on which there was found also 
the likeness of his cousin who had been dead for twelve 
years. Mumler soon received many clients, but at 
length Gardner discovered fraud in the process, and his 
exposures stopped the trade for some time. It reap- 
peared in 1869 in New York, and the municipal authori- 
ties instituted a prosecution, but Mumler was discharged 



1 Margaretta Fox. 

2 Medium and Daybreak, Jan. 23, 1874. 

3 Mr. Leymarie, "Proces des Spirites," p. 45; Medium, Aug. 14, 1874; 
Newcastle Daily Chronicle, Aug. 21, 1874, and Medium of the same date; 
Spiritualist, Aug. 28, 1874; Medium, Jan. 15, 1875; Spiritualist, May 3 
and 17, and June 7, 1878. 



History of Modern Spiritism 27 

for lack of evidence. 1 In 1872 it came to England, Mr. 
Hudson being able with the aid of Mrs. Guppy and 
other mediums to take spirit-photographs, but fraud 
was soon ascertained. 2 In 1874 a Parisian photog- 
rapher, Buguet, arrived in London and produced 
highly artistic spirit-photographs. He was arrested by 
the French Government two years later on the charge 
of fraudulent manufacture of spirit-photographs and 
made a full confession. 3 A fourth professional spirit- 
photographer presented himself in Mr. Parks. 4 

Among physical mediums in the sixties we also note 
Squire, Redman, Foster, Colchester, Conklin and the 
Davenport brothers. These latter produced their 
phenomena from a wardrobe-like cabinet in which they 
were sitting with hands and feet tied. 



From the very outset the spiritistic phenomena had 
caused considerable speculation regarding their origin 
and the manner in which spirit-communication was ef- 
fected. The theories generally adopted in the early 
stages in America and to a certain extent on the 
European Continent borrowed much from Mesmerism 
and Swedenborgianism, and usually agreed upon the 
existence in man of an astral substance of a nature be- 
tween matter and spirit, which, if detached from the 
material body, offered a means of communication with 
spirits. Mediumship, therefore, consisted in the ability 
of a person easily to detach from his body this astral 
substance. It would be to no purpose to set forth here 
the many wild theories of this period regarding the life 
of the soul, especially after death, and the constitution 

1 Spiritual Magazine, 1862, p. 562; 1863, pp. 36, 82, 128, 182; 1869, 
pp. 226, 241; Proceedings, 8. P. R., vii:270 et seq. 

2 Spiritualist, July 1872; Proceedings, S. P. R., vii:271. 
3 Podmore, "Modern Spiritualism," vol. II, p. 121. 

4 For an account of the four Spirit-Photographers see Mrs. H. Sidgwick 
in Proceedings, S. P. R., vii : 270 et seq. 



28 History of Modern Spiritism 

of the spirit-world in general; be it enough to say that 
they were marked by an astounding ignorance of natural 
sciences and an amazing lack of logic. 

In Europe, however, there was a strong tendency to 
change the crude views of the early American Spiritists 
in a manner to bring the phenomena in analogy with 
already known phenomena of science. Most French 
and ultimately most continental Spiritists followed the 
doctrine of Allan Kardec — formerly M. Rivail. Hav- 
ing been an ardent advocate of Phrenology and Animal 
Magnetism Kardec became converted to Spiritism in 
1862 and received through various clairvoyants a full 
exposition of a new Gospel, the leading truth in which 
was the doctrine of Reincarnation as set forth in a series 
of works 1 based on these revelations. However, not 
all those who believed in the phenomena were disciples 
of Kardec. Count Agenor de Gasparin explained them 
as being caused by some magnetic or physical force in- 
herent in the sitters, and his friend Thury sought their 
origin in a new mode of energy. 

Among German thinkers neither the doctrines nor 
the phenomena of Spiritism gained such ready accept- 
ance as in France. In 1861 Maximilian Perty, Doctor 
of Philosophy of the University of Berne, ascribed the 
physical phenomena to some occult power in the 
medium's organism, at the same time accounting for 
the mental phenomena by planetary spirits. Similar 
views were advocated by other Continental writers. 



Up to 1870 America had furnished almost all pro- 
fessional physical mediums. But in the seventies some 
English physical mediums made their debut, notably F. 
Heme and Charles Williams, Miss Florence Cook, 
Monck, Rita, Miss Wood, Miss Fairlamb — later Mrs. 

1 "Le Livre des Esprits" "L'Evangile selon le Spiritisme," and others. 



History of Modern Spiritism 29 

Mellon, Miss Stokes, Mr. Eglinton to whom we shall 
return later, and, above all, the Reverend Stainton- 
Moses. 

William Stainton-Moses, known under the pseu- 
donym "M. A. (Oxon.)," was born in Lincolnshire in 
1839 and received his later education at Oxford. Dur- 
ing his student years he suffered from weak health and 
was known often to walk in his sleep, and finally, his 
health having broken down, he was obliged for some 
time to interrupt his studies at Oxford. Seeking 
recreation in travel he came to Mount Athos, where he 
stayed for some time studying mysticism and monastic 
life. After his graduation from Oxford he was ordained 
by Bishop Wilberforce of the Church of England and 
accepted a curacy on the Isle of Man. In 1871 he came 
as Master to the University College School, in which 
position he remained till three years before his death. 

In 1872 Mr. Moses found himself possessed of medi- 
umistic ability and began to hold seances, mostly in the 
presence of Dr. and Mrs. Stanhope Spear, at which the 
usual physical phenomena occurred, and he gave very 
remarkable demonstrations especially of levitation of 
himself. A year later he began to produce automatic 
script. 

Among the more extraordinary features of his seances 
are numerous apparitions of what he considered to be 
spirits, which apparitions fall into three groups: first, 
a group of persons recently deceased, often presenting 
themselves before their death was publicly known, and 
frequently giving satisfactory identification; secondly, 
a group of spirits belonging to more remote genera- 
tions, and, thirdly, spirits giving such names as Rector, 
Doctor, Theophiles and, above all, Imperator. These 
from time to time would reveal the names which accord- 
ing to their assertion were theirs in life-time, proving 
themselves to be far more illustrious and ancient than 
the spirits of the second group. 



30 History of Modern Spiritism 

Mr. Moses aided in the founding of the Society for 
Psychical Research in 1882, but soon withdrew on ac- 
count of what he considered its unduly critical attitude 
towards the spiritistic view and reverted to "Spiritism 
as a Religion." During the last years of his life he 
edited the weekly Light. He died on the fifth of 
September, 1892. 1 

We quote the following from an article by Frederic 
Myers, who had made Moses' acquaintance in 1874 and 
soon became his devoted friend : 2 

"The experiences which Stainton-Moses had under- 
gone had changed his views but not his character. He 
was already set in the mould of the hardworking, con- 
scientious, dogmatic clergyman, with a strong desire to 
do good, and a strong belief in preaching as the best 
way to do it. For himself the essential part of what I 
have called his 'message' lay in the actual words auto- 
matically uttered or written — not in the accompanying 
phenomena which really gave their uniqueness and im- 
portance to the automatic processes now so familiar. 
In a book called Spirit Teachings he collected what he 
regarded as the real fruits of those years of mysterious 
listening in the vestibule of a world unknown. 

"Stainton-Moses was ill-fitted for this patient, uphill 
toil (of propagating his new faith). In the first place 
he lacked — and he readily and repeatedly admitted to 
me that he lacked — all vestige of scientific, or even of 
legal, instinct. The very words 'first hand evidence/ 
'contemporary record,' 'corroborative testimony,' were 
to him as a weariness to the flesh. His attitude was that 
of the preacher, who is already so thoroughly persuaded 

1 See: Frederic W. H. Myers in Proceedings, S. P. R., ix:245 et seq., 
xi:24 et seq.; Podmore, "Modern Spiritualism," vol. II, pp. 78 et seq.; 
Idem, "Studies, etc.," pp. 62 et seq.; Moses' articles in Human Nature, 1874, 
pp. 47, 161 et seq.; and "Psychography," "Spirit Identity," etc., London, 
1874; Posthumous papers in Proceedings, S. P. R., vols, ix and xi. 

2 "William Stainton-Moses," by F. W. H. Myers in Proceedings, S. P. R., 
viii: 579-600. 



History of Modern Spiritism 31 

in his own mind that he treats any alleged fact which 
falls in with his views as the uncriticized text for fresh 
exhortation." 



Among American physical mediums of the period 
1870-1880 should be mentioned Mrs. Holmes, Miss Eva 
Fay, Messrs. Bastian and Taylor, the Foxes, especially 
Kate (Jencken), and Slade. 

"Dr." Henry Slade had gained considerable fame in 
America for his slate-writing productions. He would 
take an ordinary school-slate, put a small piece of pencil 
on it and hold it under the table. Presently the "spirit" 
would announce its presence by raps and then the writ- 
ing would be heard by the sitters. Slade came to Eng- 
land in 1876 and there he was detected in trickery by 
Professor Ray Lankester, who snatched the slate from 
his hand under the table before the "spirit" had an- 
nounced its presence and found the message already 
on the slate, which had been prepared beforehand and 
exchanged under the table for the original slate. As a 
consequence Slade was prosecuted and forced to leave 
England. 1 

During the seances in the seventies, besides the usual 
physical phenomena there was slate writing, spirit 
"materialization" and spirit-photography. As a rule 
the sittings were held in the dark, and the performances 
were often accompanied by music. Several mediums, 
notably Mrs. Guppy, Mr. Heme, Miss Lottie Fowler 
and Mr. Henderson, exhibited "transportation," i. e., 
the medium would suddenly disappear from the seance- 
room, leaving a slight haze in the ceiling. Mr. Moncure 
Conway in 1875 exposed the trick on the part of the 
medium of freeing one hand, supposedly held by the 
sitters, and using it for performing the phenomena. 2 

1 London Times, Sept. 16, 1876; Podmore, "Modern Spiritualism" vol. 
II, p. 89. 

2 Podmore, "Modern Spiritualism" vol. II, p. 80. 



32 History of Modern Spiritism 

Prior to 1860 trance-communications and automatic 
speaking and writing had played a leading part in the 
seances at least in England, but after that year these 
manifestations became less important. Yet, in private 
circles there has been an abundance of automatic com- 
munication up to the present time. Both Home and 
Moses had trance-communications. The most noted 
professional psychic mediums during the period 1860- 
1880 were Miss Lottie Fowler, Mrs. Olive, Mr. Towns, 
Miss Hudson, Mr. and Mrs. Fletcher and Mme. 
Esperance. David Duguid, a cabinet maker by trade, 
became a Spiritist in 1865 and is famous for his pictures 
painted in trance no less than for the revelations he re- 
ceived, beginning with the year 1869, from the spirit 
of the Persian Prince Hafed. 1 Mrs. Emma Harding 
began her career as trance-speaking medium in 1865 2 
and was followed by Mr. Morse in 1870. But the 
supreme example in this line was Cora L. V. Tappan 
(later Tappan Richmond). As a girl of twelve she 
was in Ballou's Community at Hopedale, and four 
years later she became famous as a Spiritist-lecturer in 
New York. She believed herself when in trance to 
speak under spirit guidance. In 1873 she came to 
England, where she received an enthusiastic welcome. 3 



At the beginning of the movement scientific men in 
general were inclined to look upon the phenomena with 
scorn, treating the whole thing as a matter of trickery 
unworthy of attention. But gradually this attitude was 
changed and scientists began to institute private investi- 
gation. In the autumn of 1853 Count Agenor de 

1 "Hafed, Prince of Persia; His Experiences in Earth-Life and Spirit- 
Life; being Communications received through Mr. David Duguid, the 
Glasgow trance-painting Medium. Illustrated." London, James Burns. 

2 See her "Extemporaneous Addresses." London, 1865. 

3 See "Discourses through the Mediumship of Cora L. V. Tappan," 
London, 1875. 



History of Modern Spiritism 33 

Gasparin 1 carried on a series of experiments endeavor- 
ing to prove that the phenomena were not to be attrib- 
uted to the agency of the departed, but rather to some 
force in the human organism which stood under the con- 
trol of the will. He was assisted by M. Thury, Pro- 
fessor at the Academy of Geneva, and the results of the 
investigations were published in de Gasparin's "Des 
Tables Tournantes, du Surnaturel en general et des 
Esprits." 2 

Dr. Robert Hare, Professor Emeritus of Chemistry 
at the University of Pennsylvania, conducted experi- 
ments with various mediums, an account of which was 
published in 1855. 3 In 1869 the London Dialectical 
Society appointed a committee, including many promi- 
nent medical men and jurists, 4 to investigate the sub- 
ject. A report including experiments with D. D. Home 
and other mediums was published in 1871. 5 The most 
important evidence for the operation of a new force is 
given by Sir William Crookes, the great Chemist and 
Physicist who in the years 1870-1873 conducted experi- 
ments with D. D. Home, Miss Cook and others. 6 

The Psychological Society was founded in London 
in 1875 under the presidency of Sergeant Cox for the 
promotion of psychological science in all its branches, 
the main subject of investigation being the physical 
phenomena of Spiritism. 7 The following year Professor 
W. F. Barrett read a paper before the British Associa- 
tion, at Glasgow, on "Some Phenomena Associated 
with Abnormal Conditions of Mind." 8 In 1877-1878 



1 Podmore, "Studies, etc.," pp. 43-44. 

2 Geneva, 1855. 

3 "Experimental Investigations, etc.," New York, 1855. See Podmore, 
"Studies, etc.," pp. 47-49. 

4 The most notable were : A. R. Wallace, Sergeant Cox, Chas. Bradlaugh, 
H. G. Atkinson, and Dr. James Edmunds. 

5 "Report of Spiritualism by the Committee of the London Dialectical 
Society," London, 1871. 

6 "Researches in the Phenomena of Spiritualism," London, 1875. 

7 Podmore, "Studies, etc." p. 14. 

8 Podmore, "Studies, etc., p. 14. 



34 History of Modern Spiritism 

Professor Johann Zollner of Leipzig, assisted by- 
colleagues, held sittings with Slade. But much credit 
can not be given to his investigation when we bear in 
mind Slade's bad reputation of being merely a skilled 
prestidigitator. Frank Podmore seeks further to 
lessen this credit on the ground that Zollner was ob- 
sessed with the idea of the fourth dimension, evidence 
for which theory he found in Slade's phenomena, 1 but 
in all justice we think it must be said that this theory 
was rather suggested to Zollner by the phenomena he 
had witnessed during his investigation. 2 

Finally in 1882 the Society for Psychical Research 
was founded under the Presidency of Professor Henry 
Sidgwick for the purpose of investigating certain 
phenomena "designated by such terms as mesmeric, 
psychical and spiritualistic," 3 and in the same year a 
similar American Society came into being. Since that 
time most mediums of note have come under the ob- 
servation of members of the Societies the results of 
whose investigations will be found recorded in the Pro- 
ceedings and the Journal published at regular intervals 
by both Societies. 



Among later mediums we shall give a short account 
of three only, Mrs. Piper, Mrs. Thompson, and Mme. 
Eusapia Palladino, whose cases are typical of psychical 
and physical mediumship respectively. We notice also 
Mrs. Verrall and Miss Verrall, Mrs. Holland, 4 Mrs. 
Forbes, 4 and the Misses Miles and Ramsden — all trance- 
writing mediums, and a few physical mediums who have 
attracted attention. 



1 Preliminary Report of the Seybert Commission on Spiritualism, 
Podmore, Op. cit., pp. 71-80. 

2 His "Transcendental Physics." 

3 Proceedings, 8. P. B., vol. i. 

4 Mrs. Holland and Mrs. Forbes are both assumed names. 



History of Modern Spiritism 35 

Mrs. Piper 1 of Boston had visited a professional 
clairvoyant for medical purposes, and at a second visit 
she herself became entranced and was controlled by the 
spirit of an Indian girl called Chlorine. This was in 
1884. 2 The following year she came under the obser- 
vation of Professor William James of Harvard, who 
soon became convinced of her genuine powers and in 
1887 introduced her to Dr. Hodgson. From that time 
she has been in almost constant relation with members 
of the English and American Societies for Psychical 
Research. She was now for a long time almost ex- 
clusively controlled by the spirit of a French doctor 
who revealed himself as Phinuit, 3 and she delivered his 
communications with her voice. 

In February, 1892, a certain George Pelham died. 
The following month he made his appearance as a con- 
trol, in which capacity he is usually designated as G. P. 
This marks the beginning of the second period in Mrs. 
Piper's mediumistic career. G. P. developed communi- 
cation by writing, and during the early part of this 
period there was the double control of Phinuit and 
G. P., the former talking and the second writing, often 
at the same time and on different subjects. 4 

The second period lasted till 1897, when Phinuit made 
his last appearance and the Imperator Band — famous 
in the days of Mr. Moses — assumed the position of 
chief controls. Since that time G. P. has taken a very 



1 See Mrs. Henry Sidgwick: "A contribution to the study of Mrs. 
Piper's Trance Phenomena" in Proceedings, S. P. R., xxviii; cfr. R. Hodg- 
son in Proceedings, S. P. R., xiii:284 et seq., and Podmore, "Modern 
Spiritualism," vol. II, pp. 333 et seq. ; Oliver Lodge, "The Survival of Man," 
pp. 190 et seq., et alibi passim, and in Proceedings, S. P. R., xxiii: 127-305; 
Hyslop, "Science and a Future Life," pp. 113 et seq.; J. G. Piddington in 
Proceedings, S. P. R., xxii: 19-417. 

2 Proceedings, S. P. R., viii: 46-47. 

3 Three reports on this control were published : W. James in Proceed- 
ings, Am. S. P. R., vol. i, English Committee in Proceedings, S. P. R., vol. 
vi., R. Hodgson in Proceedings, S. P. R., vol. viii. 

4 The second period was reported on by Hodgson in Proceedings, S. P. R., 
vol. xiii, and Newbold in Proceedings, S. P. R., vol. xiv. 



36 History of Modern Spiritism 

subordinate part in the communications. At the begin- 
ning of the third period voice communications were 
suspended for a few months and were afterwards but 
rarely used. The convulsive movements which hitherto 
had accompanied the medium's entrance into trance 
ceased completely, much to the relief both of Mrs. Piper 
and her circle. 1 

The fourth period was ushered in by Hodgson's 
death in December 1905. The deceased Psychical Re- 
searcher, like Gurney and Myers before him, now be- 
gan to appear as control, while Rector acting under 
Imperator's directions played the main role in such ca- 
pacity. In 1906 Mrs. Piper visited England, where 
sittings were held in the presence of Mr. Piddington 
and Sir Oliver Lodge who gave their reports to the 
Society. 2 In 1908-09 she had sittings with Mr. Dorr 3 
and also with Dr. Stanley Hall and his assistant, Miss 
Amy Tanner. 4 

Towards the end of 1909 Mrs. Piper made her last 
trip to England. She was not in good health, and 
seemed to have lost her power of going into trance. It 
was not until May the following year that the power 
returned, and from now on regular sittings were re- 
sumed. Sir Oliver Lodge conducted some in the autumn 
and winter of 1910-11 but the communications were ir- 
regular, trance could not always be induced and, what 
was worse, when induced was followed by a state of 
coma which made recovery very difficult. Finally Im- 
perator declared that the trance was bad for Mrs. Piper, 
that the seance should be discontinued and that the 
spirits must leave. On May 24th he took final leave, 
but was present at Mrs. Piper's last seance, which was 

1 Reported : Hyslop sittings, Proceedings, 8. P. R., vol. xxvi, and Pro- 
ceedings, Am. 8. P. R., vol. iv; Junot sittings, Proceedings, 8. P. R., vol. 
xxiv. 

2 Proceedings, 8. P. R., xxii and xxiii resp. 

3 See Proceedings, 8. P. R., vol. xxiv. 

4 Who reported in a book: "Studies in Spiritualism," New York, 1910. 



History of Modern Spiritism 37 

held in July, 1911, and which is remarkable for the fact 
that automatic writing developed in an apparently 
normal state. 1 

The communications received through Mrs. Piper 
would relate to some deceased person, or to the past, 
present and future of those still in the flesh. "Her real 
strength," writes Mr. Podmore, 2 "lies in describing the 
diseases, personal idiosyncrasies, thoughts, feelings, and 
character of the sitter and his friends ; their loves, hates, 
quarrels, sympathies, and mutual relationships in gen- 
eral; trivial but significant incidents in their past his- 
tories, and the like." 

Mrs. Thompson's 3 mediumistic career shows much 
similarity to that of Mrs. Piper, the main point of differ- 
ence being that while the latter's mediumship was purely 
psychical, the former produced physical as well as 
psychical phenomena. Her first seances were given in 
1897 and 1898 usually in the house of Mr. F. W. 
Thurstan, who would invite, besides Mr. and Mrs. 
Thompson, a few friends to take part in the sittings, 
which took place in a double room with curtains separat- 
ing the two apartments. The one room would be with- 
out artificial light, and the other, in which the circle 
was sitting, illuminated only sufficiently for those pres- 
ent to distinguish each other. 

Her main controls were Nelly, her daughter, who had 
died in infancy, and Peter Wharton, who abandoned the 
medium in 1897 and gave place to a band of seven 
spirits, four of whom revealed themselves by direct 
writing as Esther, Charles Wade, Annie and a name 
which could not be deciphered. It is of particular inter- 
est to note that about a year after the death of Mr. 
Myers, which occurred in January, 1901, he appeared 
as her control. 



1 Proceedings, 8. P. B., xxviii: 127-129. 

2 "Modem Spiritualism" vol. II, p. 341. 

3 She has no connection with Mrs. Isaac Thompson, who had sittings 
with Mrs. Piper. 



38 History of Modern Spiritism 

The physical phenomena were of the usual type, in- 
cluding materialization, but she seems to have ceased to 
sit for them in 1898. Her trance differs from that of 
Mrs. Piper in that it is hardly distinguishable from the 
normal waking state, and she occasionally receives 
clairvoyant impressions outside of the seance room. 

Her trance communications have been carefully 
studied by several members of the Society for Psychical 
Research, and the late Frederic Myers, with whom she 
was well acquainted, ranked her with W. Stainton- 
Moses and Mrs. Piper as one of the world's most 
famous trance-mediums. 1 Their acquaintance makes 
the subsequent Myers-control doubly interesting. 2 

A peculiar kind of automatic script emerged in 1901 3 
under the hand of Mrs. Verrall which has come to be 
known as cross-correspondence. It consists in frag- 
mentary and often quite unintelligible writing obtained 
by two or more mediums simultaneously, the messages 
being complementary of each other so that when read 
together or interpreted one in the light of another their 
hidden sense becomes apparent. Real success did not 
come until 1907, when the famous cross-correspondence 
took place between Mrs. Piper in London, Mrs. Ver- 
rall in Cambridge, and Mrs. Holland in Calcutta. 

The phenomenon, to which we shall return in an- 
other chapter, has been investigated by Mr. Frank 
Podmore, Mr. Piddington, Professor Pigou, Miss 
Alice Johnson, Mr. Dorr, the Right Honorable Gerald 
Balfour, and others. 



We now come to deal with another type of medium- 
ship. Eusapia Palladino, hailed by many as the most 

1 Proceedings, 8. P. R., xviii:67 et seq. 

2 For her communications see Proceedings, 8. P. R., vols, xvii, xviii, 
and xx ; Sir Oliver Lodge, "The Survival of Man," pp. 228-312 et alibi 

sim. 

8 See Miss Alice Johnson in Proceedings, 8. P. R., xxi:375 et seq. 



History of Modern Spiritism 39 

remarkable of physical mediums, was born on January 
21, 1854, according to one account in the village of La 
Pouille, 1 and to another at Minervo Murge near Bari 
in Apulia. 2 Her mother died while she was an infant, 
and her father, who seems to have been murdered by 
brigands some eight or twelve years later, 3 placed her in 
the hands of neighboring peasants, who neglected the 
child and when she was only one year old allowed her to 
fall and injure her head. This is the origin of the 
cranial opening from which, during her seances, a cold 
breeze is often reported to have issued. 

At the death of her father, according to her own ac- 
count, 4 she was taken in charge by a Neapolitan, who 
transferred her to some foreign ladies desirous of adopt- 
ing a child. For almost a year she now underwent the 
ordeal of daily bath, instruction, and piano lessons, but 
civilization had no charm for her and she returned to 
the family of her Neapolitan friend. It was in their 
house that she was introduced to the practice of table 
turning and soon was found to possess mediumistic 
talents. But the seances failed to interest her and after 
some time she exchanged them for laundress work. 

Somewhat later, it seems, she came in contact with 
M. Damiani, an Italian medium of some reputation, 
and now John King appeared — the spirit gentleman 
and buccaneer whose acquaintance we have made in 
Mr. Koons' seance-room — to remain with her through- 
out her mediumistic career. 5 

Eusapia was married at Naples to Raphael Delgaiz> 
a merchant of modest means and an amateur theatrical 
artist, whose store she helped to manage and from whom 

1 Flammarion, "Mysterious Psychic Forces," p. 67. 

2 Carrington, "Eusapia Palladino and Her Phenomena," p. 23, 

3 Flammarion, loc. cit., and Carrington, loc. cit. 

4 Mme. Paola Carrara's account, quoted by Carrington in Op cit., pp. 20- 
25 et alibi passim. 

•Ibid. 



40 History of Modern Spiritism 

undoubtedly she learned various conjuring tricks. 1 She 
never learned to read and write ; her language was that 
of the uneducated Italians, in addition to which she 
spoke a little French. When Professor Flammarion 
met her in 1897 she was "a woman of very ordinary ap- 
pearance, a brunette, her figure a little under the 

medium height not at all neurotic, rather 

stout." 2 Mme. Carrara describes her as "a mixture of 
many contrasts. She is a mixture of silliness and mali- 
ciousness, of intelligence and ignorance, of strange con- 
ditions of existence Her appearance and words 

seem to be quite genuine and sincere. "She has not the 
manner of one who either poses or tricks or deceives 
others." She is "outspoken, sincere, instinctive, to such 
a degree that however wonderful may be the tales she 
tells, they are true." Mme. Carrara finds her not ugly, 
but her face is marked by suffering and by the fatigue 
resulting from her seances. "She has magnificent black 

eyes, mobile and even diabolical in expression 

Her hands are pretty, her feet small." She seems to 
cherish her appearance. 

In the Annals of Psychical Science 2, Mrs. Finch — 
its late editor — makes very bitter attacks upon Eusapia, 
saying that most of her sitters are deluded or 
"glamoured" by her mere presence, accuses her of erotic 
tendencies, and asserts that she holds her sitters spell- 
bound by the very fact that she is a woman. But Mr. 
Carrington rises to her defense, vehemently denouncing 
Mrs. Finch's attempt to sully her character. 4 Her 
"erotic tendencies," however, can not escape the notice 
of one who reads the accounts of her seances. 

In her trance-state, which was usually light and not 
hypnotic, John King would claim to take possession 



1 Carrington, Op. cit., p. 19. 

2 Op. cit., p. 67. 

3 July-September, 1909. 
*Op. cit., pp. 339 et seq. 



History of Modern Spiritism 41 

of her and through her lips would address himself to 
the circle before which she was exhibiting her powers. 
If we except John King's occasional admonitions, her 
phenomena were exclusively of a physical character, the 
most notable consisting of levitations, telekinesis, ma- 
terializations, and impressions of hands and faces. 

Professor Lombroso came to Naples in 1891, 1 where 
he held sittings with her for the purpose of verifying 
current reports regarding the marvels she exhibited. 
Although loth to admit the spiritistic theory of their 
causation he nevertheless returned convinced that the 
phenomena which he had witnessed were genuine. His 
testimony led to new investigations, carried on by 
scientists and scientific committees for nearly twenty 
years. We shall return to these in greater detail in our 
chapter on Genuine and Spurious Phenomena. Her 
first set-back came in Cambridge in 1895 where all her 
marvels were declared fraudulent. But thanks to her 
Continental admirers and investigators she soon was re- 
habilitated and after a series of successful sittings with 
eminent French, Italian, Russian and Polish savants, her 
case, which had been dropped by the Society for 
Psychical Research after the Cambridge exposures, was 
reconsidered by that body, and the investigating Com- 
mittee, composed of skeptics, pronounced a verdict in 
favor of genuine phenomena. After this new triumph 
Eusapia came to the United States, where, however, she 
failed miserably and was caught in flagrant fraud. Sub- 
sequent attempts to patch up her case were of no avail, 
and her New York sittings may be said to mark the 
sad end of her illustrious career. She died in the spring 
of 1918. 

Physical mediumship of much the same description 
as that of Eusapia Palladino does not lack modern 
representatives. Among the best known mediums we 
shall mention Auguste Politi of Rome, whose phenomena 

1 See M. Ciolfi's report in Annates des Sciences Psychiques, 181, p. 326. 



42 History of Modern Spiritism 

were examined by de Rochas in Paris in 1902 and in 
Rome in 1904, 1 Sambor, who gave numerous seances 
in St. Petersburg between the years 1897 and 1902, 2 
the American, Miller, who in 1904 appeared in Paris, 3 
and Mile. Tomczyk, who was studied by Dr. Ochorowicz 
in Varsovie. 4 Francesco Carancini discovered his 
mediumship at one of Politi's seances, came under the 
observation of Baron von Erhardt in Rome in 1908, and 
in the following year performed in England before 
Feilding and Sir William and Lady Crookes and 
others. 5 



Although scientific investigation had laid bare an 
overwhelming amount of fraud in spiritistic perform- 
ances, and in various theories had offered a more or less 
natural explanation of whatever could not be attributed 
to fraud, the vast number of Spiritists adhered to the 
old opinion of spirit intervention. This belief was 
elaborated and systematized by a great many writers, 
and the most complete account, probably, of the meta- 
physics of later Spiritism is to be found in "The 
Mechanism of Man" by Sergeant Cox. Cox attributed 
the phenomena to the extra-corporeal action of the hu- 
man soul. Man, according to his theory, consists of two 
parts, body and soul. But the soul is material like the 
body, having the same shape, parts and magnitude; as 
a fact, a spirit is not and cannot be immaterial. But 
the soul is not grossly material, "Its substance is vastly 
more refined than the thinnest gas with which we are ac- 
quainted." It possesses will and intellect, and does not 
disintegrate with the death of the body. It is exempt 

1 Flammarioii, "Mysterious Psychic Forces," pp. 368 et seq. 
'Count Solovovo in Annates des Sciences Psychiques, 1902. 
8 Annates des Sciences Psychiques, 1906, pp. 501, 591 et seq. 
* Annals of Psychical Science, 1909, pp. 271-284, 333-399, 515-533. 
5 W. W. Baggally, "Some Sittings with Carancini" in Journal, S. P. R., 
xiv: 193-211. 



History of Modern Spiritism 43 

from gravity and has the power to communicate this ex- 
emption to bodies. It can flow through visible 
"molecular" matter and has enlarged powers of per- 
ception dependent upon aerial or ethereal undulations, 
and so forth. 1 

Other notions are found in the writings of Dr. Hare, 2 
who tells us that spirits differ from one another in 
destiny, and that they have a circulation system through 
which passes a fluid and also organs for respiration. 
Mr. Cromwell Varley 3 considers thoughts to be "solid." 
But there is very little of the commodity among the 
Spiritists, and Cox's philosophy seems to have survived 
to the present generation. 

Trance speaking and writing have played an im- 
portant part in Spiritism as a religious movement, and 
the "inspired" writings of W. Stainton-Moses form its 
older Gospel. According to him the phenomena in gen- 
eral are ascribed to the spirits of the dead whose reve- 
lations are to form the basis of a future world-wide 
Religion. 4 This idea is to a certain extent adopted by 
Myers, who makes its exposition the concluding chapter 
of "Human Personality" But while Moses in his 
"Spirit Teachings" makes himself an exponent of 
rather free Protestantism, Myers' ideas have already 
abandoned even the most essential elements of Chris- 
tianity, and in this tendency he has been followed by 
nearly all educated prophets of Spiritism. Perhaps no 
work dealing with Spiritism as a religious revelation has 
created more sensation than Sir Oliver Lodge's "Ray- 
mond" a product of the present war. Among our pres- 
ent major prophets Sir Arthur Conan Doyle takes a 
prominent place, flooding cheap magazines with sen- 
sational articles in which he with enviable dogmatic con- 



^odmore, "Studies, etc.," pp. 35-36. 

2 "Spirit Manifestations." 

'Dialectical Report, p. 172. 

4 See his "Spirit Teachings"— "M. A. (Oxon.)." 



44 History of Modern Spiritism 

viction extols vague and undigested doctrines at the ex- 
pense of the dark superstition of traditional Chris- 
tianity. The minor prophets and their various teachings 
defy enumeration. 



In 1855 there were two millions of Spiritists in the 
United States, twelve or fourteen periodicals were de- 
voted to the cause of the movement, lectures were given 
every day of the year and spiritistic circles were held 
day and night in nearly every city, town and village 
throughout the country. 1 Since then the number both 
of adherents and of publications has increased. In 1887 
there were about one hundred newspapers dealing with 
the philosophy and phenomena of Spiritism, thirty of 
which were published in the English language — the ma- 
jority circulating in the United States — and forty in 
Spanish. 

There is no exact or reliable information concern- 
ing the number of adherents at the present time. Since 
the outbreak of the war the movement in its popular, 
religious form seems to have gained considerably in 
England where, if we are to believe recent accounts, a 
veritable frenzy of spirit consultation has seized those 
who have lost dear relatives and friends in the struggle. 2 



1 North American Review, April, 1855. 

2 See "Spiritism in England," by Robert Mountsier in The Bookman, 
January, 1918. 



CHAPTER II. 

Physical Phenomena. 

' The phenomena of Spiritism may be classified in two 
groups, Physical and Psychical. In making this classi- 
fication we do not attempt to base ourselves on the 
cause or causes, whether claimed or established, of the 
phenomena, for the question of their source or sources 
will be the subject of later discussion. We merely look 
to their general, prima facie appearance as being of a 
physical or a psychical character, and classify them ac- 
cordingly. In this and the two following chapters, 
therefore, we shall attempt under proper headings to 
present the main and more typical phenomena as de- 
scribed by eye-witnesses of repute, chiefly in the publi- 
cations of men and societies devoted to investigation of 
Spiritism. 



The Physical Phenomena appear as effects produced 
in physical substances and often occur in connection 
with external objects such as pieces of furniture, house- 
hold objects and human bodies. They may be said to 
be external manifestations apparently of occult agen- 
cies, mediately through some physical object or sub- 
stance. While they show considerable variation they 
may be separated into two groups, one of which includes 
mainly such effects as locomotion, counteraction of 
gravitation, and percussion — or, in general, the ap- 
plication of a seemingly physical force to objects; the 
other embracing phenomena suggesting a more pro- 
found alteration in physical nature or implying the con- 
veyance of intelligence by physical means. The 
phenomena of the first group consist of movements of 



46 Physical Phenomena 

inanimate objects, apport, change in weight, levitation, 
touches and sounds, while the second group embraces 
elongation, ability to touch burning substances, pro- 
duction of inanimate substances, materialization, im- 
pressions, spirit-photography, direct spirit messages 
and spirit voices. To each group we shall give a 
separate chapter. 



1. Movement of inanimate objects. To this group 
belong some of the earliest and most common perform- 
ances of the seance-room, consisting of slow or rapid, 
sometimes violent, movements principally of tables or 
other pieces of furniture, but also of other objects of all 
descriptions, opening and closing of doors, and in gen- 
eral the upheavals known as Poltergeist-performances, 
all effected with or without contact with the performer, 
but not always without visible physical exertion on his 
part. The motive power either seems to emanate from 
the performer, who as in the case of Eusapia Palladino 
often becomes exhausted, or to be supplied by some in- 
visible agency. 

The commonest forms of movement of this kind are 
table turning and table tilting or levitation, which often 
constitute the initial stage of a spiritistic seance. The 
sitters having formed a chain by placing their hands on 
the table, the latter begins a rotary movement, which 
sometimes continues after the hands have been lifted a 
short distance from the surface. Occasionally the move- 
ment becomes quite rapid, the table dancing about on the 
floor. Table tilting has been described in the chapter 
dealing with the history of Spiritism. 1 Usually one 
end or corner of the table rises a short distance from the 
floor, remains for a few moments in the raised position 
and falls back. Less often the whole table is raised, 
first one end, then the other. This effect is more easily 

1 See p. 22. 



Physical Phenomena 47 

obtained when the hands rest upon the table, but re- 
markable levitations have been observed when the 
medium alone has held one or both hands above its sur- 
face. 

Mr. Sergeant Cox records levitations three inches 
from the floor of a solid mahogany table six feet wide 
and nine feet long. They took place in broad light, Cox 
and the medium standing on each side of the table, two 
feet away from it and holding their hands above the 
surface. 1 Eusapia Palladino's seances afford many ex- 
amples of this phenomenon. With her, complete levi- 
tations are very frequent, the table rising 4 to 8, and, 
exceptionally, 24 to 27, inches from the floor. 2 

Some interesting photographs have been taken dur- 
ing experiments with table levitation. One made by 
M. G. de Fontenoy shows the table lifted twenty-five 
centimetres from the floor, the hands of two sitters 
plainly being seen on the table while the other two 
sitters are engaged in "controlling" Palladino, the 
medium, whose hands and feet, which are in full view, 
do not seem to touch the table. 3 Another taken at 
Auteuil by M. Guerronnau gives an excellent view of a 
high and complete levitation without contact. 4 Similar 
photographs were taken at seances before the French 
Psychological Institute 5 and at sittings with the medium 
Politi held in Paris in 1902. 6 

During experiments the writer noticed that the table 
— usually a large flower table — when levitated, in spite 
of his efforts, could not be pressed back to the floor. At 
the Palladino seances it was observed that pressure on 
the levitated table gave a sensation of floating on water 



1(< What am If" quoted by F. W. H. Myers in Proceedings, 8. P. R., 
ix:259, foot note. 

2 Flammarion, "Mysterious Psychic Forces" p. 154. 

"Idem, opposite p. 82. 

* Idem, opposite p. 174. 

"Flournoy, "Spiritism and Psychology," opposite p. 270. 

8 Flammarion, Op. cit., opposite p. 368. 



48 Physical Phenomena 

or on some elastic fluid. 1 On one occasion Professor 
Lombroso estimated that it required a pressure of 
twelve to fifteen pounds to force the table down. 2 But 
we have examples of much greater force being in 
activity. When a certain young boy played the piano, 
the instrument would become levitated. When two per- 
sons tried to prevent the levitation by leaning with all 
their might on the corners of the piano one of two things 
would happen :. the levitation would take place in spite 
of their efforts, or the music stool with the player would 
be pushed back. 3 Professor Flammarion, who saw the 
piano in question, calculated that it would require an 
upward pressure, in one case of about 165, in another 
of about 440 pounds to lift the key-board edge of the 
instrument. 4 

Movement of other objects without contact is a fre- 
quent occurrence in the seance-room. Furniture at a 
distance from the sitters will move along the floor in 
slow or lively gait, pictures will be torn from the walls 
and again be replaced, bric-a-brac will leave mantel- 
pieces or tables, dart about in the air or be placed in the 
lap or pockets of those present, burning coals will fly 
from the fireplace, and so on. 

At one of Sir William Crookes' sittings with D. D. 
Home a lath, two feet long and one and one-half inches 
wide, covered with white paper to make it more easily 
visible, was lying on the table, the sitters having formed 
a chain with their hands away from the table. The 
lath presently began to rise, first one end reaching a 
height of ten inches above the table, then the other end 
half this distance. For a period of about one minute 
the lath continued floating in this position, much like a 



1 Flammarion, Op. cit., opposite p. 5. Same sensation with Mile. Huet 
as medium, p. 37. 

2 Idem, p. 144. 

3 Thury: "Les Tables Tournantes," quoted by Flammarion, Op. cit., p. 
275. 

4 Flammarion: Op. cit., p. 275. 



Physical Phenomena 49 

piece of wood on a small wave of the sea. It then 
gradually descended to the table, beginning with the 
lower end. The phenomenon was repeated and this 
time Sir William was able to reassure himself that the 
lath was not touched, Home sitting at least three 
feet distant from it. 1 

Another interesting phenomenon was produced by 
Home in Sir William's presence. A wire cage had been 
placed under the table and in this cage an accordion was 
held in Home's left hand which reached down between 
the upper edge of the cage and the top of the table. 
His right hand rested on the table. The accordion thus 
vertically suspended in the cage with its lower end con- 
taining the key-board quite free presently began to 
play and continued to do so after it had been lifted out 
of the cage and left levitated in the air without support. 
The experiment was repeated and this time the ac- 
cordion was left by itself in the cage, where it began to 
play while floating about unsupported. 2 

The Palladino seances were rich in phenomena of 
this kind. She always sat before the seance table with 
her back turned to the "cabinet," which was a corner 
partitioned from the rest of the room by means of a 
pair of curtains. The advent of phenomena was almost 
invariably heralded by an inflation of the curtain, giving 
the impression that it was pushed out by a strong gust 
of air from the cabinet. At times the curtain would 
protrude so far as to envelop the medium or one of the 
sitters. Various articles would now begin to move. A 
violin, a tambourine, a table, a bell or a book, which 
previously had been placed in the cabinet, would be 
thrown on the table, be pushed along the floor or would 
sail about in the air. Often considerable force was dis- 
played. The violin would be hurled upon the table, ob- 
jects would be wrenched from the hands of an experi- 

1 Proceedings, 8. P. R., vi: 111-112. 

2 "Researches in Spiritualism," pp. 12 et seq. 



50 Physical Phenomena 

menter and returned to the cabinet, or pieces of furni- 
ture moved on the floor and upset. It is recorded how a 
chair weighing twenty-two pounds suffered this fate, 
how a big divan was seen approaching the circle, how 
a small table advanced towards Professor Lombroso, 
one of the sitters, who took it between his hands but in 
spite of his efforts was unable to hold it, and how a 
music box was presented to the curtain where it was 
seized and thrown back, wounding a gentleman present 
by striking him beneath the left eye. 1 

Other peculiarities were observed in connection with 
these phenomena. A small table, a violin, a chair or 
other objects would approach one of the sitters, en- 
deavoring to climb up his legs. Occasionally the climb- 
ing would be successful and the object would place it- 
self in the lap of the gentleman in question. At other 
times they would climb and place themselves upon the 
table. Again it was observed how on approaching one 
of the sitters the small table would hesitate, seem to 
struggle between different desires and finally continue 
its course. 2 

Objects were often heard moving about in the cabinet. 
Mme. Flammarion relates the following incident : 3 

"Up to the moment when the event that I am going 
to relate took place, Mme. Brisson had remained almost 
as incredulous as I, apropos of the phenomena, and 
she had just been expressing to me in a low tone her re- 
gret at not having yet seen anything herself, when, all 
of a sudden, the curtain behind Eusapia began to shake 
and move gracefully back, as if lifted by an invisible 
curtain band — and what do I see? The little table on 



1 Various reports on sittings with Eusapia Palladino in Paris 1898, and 
in Milan 1899, in Flammarion, "Mysterious Psychic Forces," pp. 96, 125, 
98, 94, 97, 156, 90, 114. 

'Various reports on seances in Naples and Paris, in Flammarion, Op. 
cit., pp. 99-100, 145, 114, 125, 146-50. 

3 Mme. Flammarion's notes in Flammarion, Op. cit., pp. 126-127; cfr. M. 
Mathieu's report on seance Nov. 25, 1898, Ibid.., p. 113. 



Physical Phenomena 51 

three feet, and leaping (apparently in high spirits) over 
the floor, at the height of about eight inches, while the 
gilded tambourine is in its turn leaping gaily at the 
same height above the table, and noisily tinkling its 
bells. 

"Stupefied with wonder, quick as I can pull Mme. 
Brisson to my side, and, pointing with my finger at what 
is taking place, 'Look!' said I. 

"And then the table and the tambourine begin their 
carpet-dance again in perfect unison, one of them fall- 
ing forcibly upon the floor and the other upon the table. 
Mme. Brisson and I could not help bursting out into 
laughter; for, indeed, it was too funny!" 

Movements of objects would sometimes follow 
Eusapia's or Prof. Flammarion's movements synchroni- 
cally, and the curtains were found at times to become 
inflated at the gestures of sitters. 1 We shall find a 
parallel to this when treating of the phenomenon of 
sounds. 

Another variation of the phenomenon consists in 
movement of the keys of a musical instrument, without 
contact, often in a manner to produce pieces of music. 
We have mentioned Home's prestations with the ac- 
cordion. The phenomenon was reproduced by Eusapia 
Palladino. M. Flammarion was holding an accordion, 
just purchased by him, vertically suspended in the air 
with the keys down and near the medium, whose hands, 
however, could not touch it. After the lapse of five to 
six seconds the bellows began to be moved and at the 
same time music was heard. M. Flammarion now let 
go of the accordion, which remained "as if glued to the 
curtain." Once more it began to play, no one holding 

1 M. Mathieu's report on seance, Nov. 25, and M. Armelin's report on 
seance, Nov. 21, both in Paris 1898, in Flammarion, Op. cit., pp. 111-113, 
103 et seq. 



52 Physical Phenomena 

it, and while playing it moved to the middle of the table. 1 
An account of a piano producing music without being 
touched will be found in Flammarion's work to which 
we often have made reference. 2 



2. Apport. Apport of various objects into the 
seance-room is a rather frequently witnessed phenom- 
enon. It consists in an object being, as it were, car- 
ried by invisible hands from one room to another or 
transported from the outside to the circle of sitters. At 
times objects already in the seance-room are moved in 
a manner which gives the impression of conveyance by 
invisible hands. Dr. Spear tells how in the Reverend 
Mr. Moses' home on the Isle of Man invisible hands 
brought various toilet articles, etc., to the center of Mr. 
Moses' bed, arranging them in the shape of a cross, 
Moses' clerical collar forming the halo around the up- 
per portion thereof. 3 

At a seance held with Dr. and Mrs. Spear, Moses re- 
lates how the spirit "Dicky came and brought very 
gently an ivory piece of puzzle from the drawing-room." 
At Moses' request "he fetched another. After this," 
Mr. Moses continues, "I felt something crawling over 
my right hand (which Mrs. Spear held) and could not 
make out what it was. When a light was struck we found 
it to be a marker from Mrs. Spear's bedroom. It had 
crawled over my hand, and was placed directly in front 
of her, with the legend 'God is our refuge and strength' 
right before her eyes." 4 

Similar phenomena are abundantly recorded from 
Palladino's seances. At a sitting in Paris in 1898 a 
cushion upon which a member of the circle was resting 
his elbows was suddenly snatched away from him and 

1 Flammarion, Op. cit., p. 121-122. 

2 p. 369. 

3 Proceedings, 8. P. B., xi:265. 
* Ibid., ix:311. 



Physical Phenomena 53 

thrown against a mirror. 1 At another sitting M. Levy 2 
tells us how "a force" has been abusing M. Mathieu, 
another sitter, and while this gentleman "is complaining 
of the violence used upon him, we hear the sound of the 
tambourine, which is then quickly thrown upon the 
table. Next the violin arrives in the same manner. . . . 
I seize the tambourine and ask the Invisible if he wishes 
to take it. I feel a hand grasping the instrument. I 
am not willing to let it go. A struggle now ensues be- 
tween myself and a force which I judge to be con- 
siderable. In the tussle a violent effort pushes the 
tambourine into my hand, and the cymbals penetrate 
the flesh. I feel a sharp pang, and a good deal of blood 
flows. I let go of the handle. I just now ascertain, by 
the light, that I have a deep gash under the right thumb 
nearly an inch long." 

A book held before the curtain was seized, and in like 
manner a cigarette holder which later was thrown into 
the seance-room through the cleft between the curtains. 
Twigs of different trees were carried into the room 
through the open window. 3 Another time a glass half 
full of water standing on a buffet out of reach of the 
sitters was carried in complete darkness and with great 
precision to the lips of three persons present who drank 
of it. 4 A carafe is reported by M. Porro to have moved 
from one table to another, flowers were put in the mouth 
of a sitter, the carafe came to the mouth of the medium, 
who was made to drink from it twice — in between the 
two times it sank down to the table, where it stood up- 
right for a moment 5 — a guitar was lifted from the wall 



1 M. Armelin's report on seance in Paris, Nov. 21, 1898, in Flammarion, 
Op. cit., p. 109. 

2 His report on seance in Paris, Nov. 16, 1898. Ibid., p. 89. 

3 M. Mathieu's report on seance in Paris Nov. 25, 1898, Ibid., pp. 113, 
112. 

M. le Bon's report on seance in Paris Nov. 28. Ibid., p. 201. 

M. Claretie's report on seance in Paris Nov. 25. Ibid., p. 99. 

4 Report of M. de Siemiradski on sittings in Rome 1893-94, Ibid., p. 163. 

5 In Op. cit., p. 182. 



54 Physical Phenomena 

where it was hanging, approached the circle with great 
rapidity, making changes in its course; it then struck 
three blows on the forehead of one sitter, which became 
bruised, and came to rest very quietly on the table. 
Finally a heavy typewriter was brought from one table 
to another. 1 

The apparent passing of objects through solid sub- 
stances has frequently been reported from sittings with 
mediums. Among the objects brought into Mr. Moses' 
seance-room when the doors were securely closed we 
may mention a blue enamel cross, a snuff box, a candle- 
stick, a biscuit, a pair of Sevres salad tongs, gravel, a 
marble statuette, a chamois horn, flowers, seed pearls, 
a silver salver, large stones and various gems. 

Other peculiar phenomena of somewhat the same type 
were observed by Professor Zollner in Leipzig during 
his experiments with Slade 1877-78. Coins were taken 
out from securely closed and sealed boxes, and other 
things put into them, rings strung to a piece of catgut 
and sealed were freed and put round the leg of the table, 
knots were tied on an endless cord and a table laid it- 
self to rest under another table, stretched its legs across 
the floor and finally entirely vanished out of the room 
and returned from the ceiling. 2 

From the Palladino seances we record the passing of 
a book through the cabinet curtain. It was at a seance 
given in Paris in 1898, and we quote M. Flammarion: 
"Jules Bois presents a book before the curtain at about 
the height of a man standing upright. The salon is 
dimly lighted — yet objects are seen with distinctness. 
An invisible hand behind the curtain seizes the book. 
Then all the observers see it disappear as if it had passed 
through the curtain." Mme. Flammarion, quite skepti- 
cal about the phenomena and hoping to detect fraud 

1 Reports on seances in Paris 1898, in Flammarion, "Mysterious 
Psychic Forces," pp. 109, 87, 113, 112. 

2 "Transcendental Physics," pp. 50-51, 17-18, 90-91. 



Physical Phenomena 55 

and unmask the medium, had glided past the windows 
to the rear of the curtain. "Suddenly the book appears 
to her, it having passed through the curtain — upheld in 
the air, without hands or arms, for a space of one or 
two seconds. Then she sees it fall down. She cries, 
'Oh! the book: it has just passed through the curtain!' 
and, pale and stupefied with wonder, she abruptly re- 
tires among the observers." * 

In the presence of the Russian medium Sambor 
phenomena of still more astounding nature appeared. 2 
A chair was lifted from under its occupant and en- 
deavored to hang itself on the hand with which he was 
holding the medium. It then suddenly disappeared 
from that gentleman's arm and was felt pressing upon 
the arm of the narrator, the hand of which was holding 
that of a neighbor. When the light was turned on, it 
became evident to all those present that the arm in 
question had passed through the back of the chair. At 
a later seance the phenomenon was again produced after 
the hands concerned had been joined with a strip of 
cloth. 3 



3. Change in weight of objects. This phenomenon 
was produced by Mr. Home, among others, before Sir 
William Crookes and a friend of his, Dr. A. B., all 
precautions against fraud having been taken. Sir 
William had fitted up an apparatus consisting of a ma- 
hogany board, thirty-six inches long by nine and one- 
half inches wide and one inch thick, one end of which 
rested on a firm table, the other being attached to a 
spring balance with self-registering index. The ap- 
paratus was adjusted to hold the mahogany board 
horizontally, in which position its weight was registered 

1 Flammarion, "Mysterious Psychic Forces," pp. 129-130. 

2 Count Petrovo Solovovo's report on seances in 1901 in Annates des 
Sciences Psychiques, 1902 — see Flammarion, Op. cit., p. 372. 

3 Flammarion, Op. cit., p. 373. 



56 Physical Phenomena 

to be three pounds. Home by placing his fingers on the 
edge of the board, which rested on the table, occasioned 
the pointer of the balance to descend and ascend several 
times. He then placed a small hand-bell and a card 
match-box, one under each hand, on the board, this in 
order to convince the investigators that he was not pro- 
ducing the downward movement by pressure of his 
hands. The scale now registered as much as nine pounds, 
or six pounds in excess of the original weight. Standing 
on one foot on the edge of the board, where Home's 
fingers previously had been held, Crookes who weighed 
140 pounds occasioned the scale to register but two 
pounds' increase. The experiment was repeated sev- 
eral times. 1 

Later Sir William altered the apparatus so that a 
vessel filled with water was placed on the edge of the 
board resting on the table, and the balance was furnished 
with an automatic clock register, showing alteration in 
weight in curves drawn on smoked glass. 2 Home placed 
his right hand finger tips in the water, his left hand and 
his feet being held. The balance immediately registered 
an increase in weight, the lowest point reached corre- 
sponding to a pull of about 5,000 grains. The water- 
bowl was now withdrawn, and without any contact be- 
tween Home and the apparatus alteration in weight 
was registered. 3 

Not satisfied with the results of these experiments 
Sir William constructed a more delicate apparatus con- 
sisting of a horizontal board with a light lever, the 
shorter end of which rested with a vertical point on 
parchment tightly stretched across a circular hoop of 
wood, the longer ending in a needle which touched a 
smoked glass plate movable by means of a clock work. 



Researches in Spiritualism, pp. 11, 14-15. 

2 Ibid., pp. 33-36. 

3 Ibid., pp. 37-42. For similar experiments by Thury and Gasparin, see 
'Des Tables Tournantes" and by Dr. Hare, "Experimental Investigations." 



Physical Phenomena 57 

It was sufficient for Home to hold his hands on the 
side of the board (not on the lever) or above, but not 
touching the lever, in order to produce percussive 
sounds on the parchment and cause the lever to move up 
and down, which movements were registered in curves 
on the glass plate. 1 

Although under less exact control, Eusapia Palladino 
produced similar effects ; she would place her hands out- 
stretched one on each side of a letter weigher which then 
would register as if weights had been placed on it. M. 
Levy records how a considerable registration was ob- 
tained when her hands were held four inches from the 
instrument, and after it had been ascertained that she 
did not hold a hair or similar object between her hands 
(occasionally she would resort to this trick, pressing the 
top of the scales with the hair) , 2 The experiment had 
been successfully performed in l'Agnelas in 1895 before 
a distinguished assembly of scientists, 3 and at other 
sessions in Paris. 4 

During the sittings in Milan in 1892 a table was 
suspended by one of its ends to a dynamometer coupled 
to a cord which in its turn was securely supported from 
above. The end of the table being lifted six and a half 
inches the dynamometer registered seventy-seven 
pounds. Eusapia seating herself at the suspended end 
of the table placed her hands wholly thereon, one on 
each side of the dynamometer, which now began to 
show a gradual diminution in weight till it finally 
registered zero. When placing her hands under the 
table she increased the weight of its suspended end from 
seven and a half to thirteen pounds. 5 



1 "Researches in Spiritualism," pp. 38 et seq. 

2 Report on seance Nov. 16, 1898, in Flammarion, "Mysterious Psychic 
Forces," p. 88. 

3 Flammarion, Ibid., p. 173. 

4 Ibid., p. 198. 

5 Ibid., p. 153. See also pp. 413-414. 



58 Physical Phenomena 

4. Levitation of human body. Still more remark- 
able, perhaps, than change in weight of inanimate ob- 
jects are the phenomena of levitation as observed with 
certain mediums, notably D. D. Home, W. Stainton- 
Moses, and Eusapia Palladino. Sir William Crookes 
attests 1 that "on one occasion (he) witnessed a chair, 
with a lady sitting on it, rise several inches from the 
ground. On another occasion, to avoid the suspicion of 
this being in some way performed by herself, the lady 
knelt on the chair in such manner that its four feet were 
visible to (those present). It then rose about three 
inches, remained suspended for about ten seconds, and 
then slowly descended." 

Eusapia Palladino was levitated in the same manner 
at the Milan sittings in 1892. 2 Messrs. Richet and 
Lombroso were holding her two hands and the medium 
complained of suffering pressure under the arm. 
Presently, in a state of trance, she said — or rather 
"John King" through her: "Now I will bring up my 
medium upon the table." A few seconds later the chair 
with the medium in it rose slowly and placed itself on 
the table, whence it again carefully descended to the 
floor after an announcement to that effect had taken 
place. A few days later the performance was repeated. 

Three times Sir William saw D. D. Home levitated, 
once sitting in an easy chair, once kneeling on his chair 
and once standing on the floor. On separate occasions 
he witnessed two children with their chairs rise from the 
floor, in broad daylight and under best circumstances 
for observation. 3 

The Master of Lindsay describes the following ex- 
perience with Mr. Home, on which he previously had 
reported to the Committee of the Dialectical Society: 4 
"I was sitting with Mr. Home and Lord Adare and a 

1 "Researches in Spiritualism" p. 89. 

2 Flammarion, "Mysterious Psychic Forces" p. 159-60. 

3 "Researches in Spiritualism" p. 89. 

4 Dialectical Report, p. 214. 



Physical Phenomena 59 

cousin of his. During the sitting, Mr. Home went into 
a trance, and in that state was carried out of the window 
in the room next to where we were, and was brought in 
at our window. The distance between the windows was 
about seven feet six inches, and there was not the slight- 
est foothold between them, nor was there more than a 
twelve-inch projection to each window, which served as 
a ledge to put flowers on. We heard the window in the 
next room lifted up, and almost immediately after we 
saw Home floating in the air outside our window. The 
moon was shining full into the room; my back was to 
the light, and I saw the shadow on the wall of the 
window sill, and Home's feet about six inches above it. 
He remained in this position for a few seconds, then 
raised the window and glided into the room feet fore- 
most and sat down." 

"Lord Adare then went into the next room to look 
at the window from which he had been carried. It was 
raised about eighteen inches, and he expressed his 
wonder how Mr. Home had been taken through so nar- 
row an aperture. Home said, still entranced, 'I will 
show you,' and then with his back to the window he 
leaned back and was shot out of the aperture, head first, 
with the body rigid, and then returned quite quietly. 
The window is about seventy feet from the ground." 1 

On several occasions W. Stainton-Moses was levi- 
tated. Once he was lifted in his chair about twelve or 
fourteen inches from the floor, then floated from the 
chair, ascended higher and was moved to one of the 
ceiling corners of the room, after which he quietly de- 
scended. While this occurred he was not in the state of 
trance. As he approached the wall he placed a pencil 
between his chest and the wall, making a mark thereon 
for later verification of the phenomenon. The sitters 
declared themselves to have heard Moses' voice issuing 
from the corner of the ceiling. 2 

^odmore, "Studies, etc.," pp. 52-53. 

2 Proceedings, 8. P. R., ix:261. Further instances Ibid., vi:119, 126. 



60 Physical Phenomena 

5. Touches. Touches as of hands are often felt at 
dark seances, less frequently when light is admitted. 
The phenomena show considerable variations ranging 
from gentle touches as with a closed hand or contact 
with the palm or fingers, to heavy blows which leave un- 
mistakable marks on the victims. There may be a few 
scattered touches during a seance, again the frequency 
of their administration is sometimes greatly increased. 
Then, at times, there are violent pushes or strong pres- 
sure felt on different parts of the body. 

The touches may also take the form of pinchings of 
ears, cheek, etc., or some one present will have his hair 
or beard pulled. 

Professor Flammarion on one occasion "was struck 
several times in the side, touched on the head, and (his) 
ear was smartly pinched." He goes on to say: 1 "I de- 
clare that after several repetitions I had enough of this 
ear pinching; but during the whole seance, in spite of 
my protestations, somebody kept hitting me." Sir 
Oliver Lodge 2 felt blows as if some one was striking the 
head, arms, or the back, while the head, the hands, and 
the feet of the medium were plainly in view or held apart 
from the portions of the body that were touched." And 
M. Victorien Sardou tells us 3 that on one occasion he 
received a "blow with the flat of the hand, applied in the 
small of the back, without hurting (him) at all, (which) 
was strong enough to make (him) lean forward, in spite 
of (himself), toward the table." 

More pleasant, perhaps, are the gentle caresses with 
which sitters at seances are sometimes favored. M. 
Pallotti several times experienced gentle strokes on his 
face, head, neck, and breast "by a hand which came out 

1 His Experiments with Eusapia Palladino in "Mysterious Psychic 
Forces," p. 73. 

2 Flammarion, Op. cit., p. 167. 

3 Report on seances in Paris, Nov. 19, 1898, in Flammarion, Op. cit., p. 
97. 



Physical Phenomena 61 

from behind the curtain." 1 But the spirits do not stop 
at such trifles. When the right ones appear there will 
be enacted regular love scenes with embraces and kisses 
according to ancient terrestrial tradition. 

It happened at one of the Palladino sittings in Paris 
in 1898 2 that a certain M. Boutigny — who was affianced 
to the daughter of M. Pallotti — while standing before the 
curtain which gaped open by his side, announced aloud 
that he was being caressed very affectionately. The 
medium, in an extraordinary state of agitation, kept on 
saying: "Amove mio, Amove mioT Then she called to 
Pallotti, "Adesso vieni tu/ J and hastening to take B.'s 
place he was kissed several times. For a moment he 
could touch the head of the affectionate Invisible. The 
medium was all the time carefully watched. 

But it is not always necessary to await the pleasure 
of the amorous spirits. Kisses may be had for the ask- 
ing, although the quality in such cases seems slightly in- 
ferior. 3 

Touches are also felt as of a beard, of human hair, 
etc. At times the sensation is very distinct so that the 
person experiencing it can tell whether the beard is soft 
or coarse, whether the hair is that of a man or a woman, 
and so on. The hands which perform touches are some- 
times the large, robust — and even hairy — hands of a 
man, at other times the smaller, softer hands of a woman 
or those of a child. It has frequently been ascertained 
that the hands were quite different from those of the 
medium — or that the beard or hair was different from 
her hair — and on many occasions the touches have been 
felt when the medium's hands were reported securely 

1 Report on seance in Paris, Nov. 14, 1898, in Flammarion, "Mysterious 
Psychic Forces," p. 116. 

2 M. Pallotti's report on seance Nov. 14, Ibid., p. 115. 

3 Flammarion reports from experiments with Palladino in Milan 1892: 
"One of us having expressed the wish to be kissed, felt before his very 
mouth the peculiar quick sounds of a kiss, but not accompanied by any 
contact of lips." — Op. cit., p. 161. 



62 Physical Phenomena 

held — as always was the case with Eusapia Palladino, 
from the accounts of whose seances these incidents are 
gathered — and also exposed to full view. 1 The same 
phenomena occurred during sittings with Auguste 
Politi when that medium was securely inclosed in a 
sack. 2 

The hand has been felt coming out from the curtain 
behind the medium, or the blows or pinches have been 
administered through the curtain. 3 Again, hands will 
emerge from the curtain and then advance "so far as to 
touch first one, then the other of the company, caressing 
them, pressing their hands, daintily pulling their ears 
or clapping hands merrily in the air above their heads." 4 

M. Victorien Sardou records the following curious 
instance: 5 "You (Flammarion) disengaged your left 
hand from the chain, and, turning toward me, twice 
made in the air the gesture of a director of an orchestra 
waving his baton to and fro. And each time, with per- 
fect precision, I felt upon my side the repercussion of a 
blow exactly tallying with your gesture, which reached 
me and which seemed to me to correspond exactly to the 
time necessary for the transference of a billiard ball or 
a tennis ball from you to me." 

Twice Professor Schiaparelli had his spectacles, which 
were fastened with springs round his ears, removed 
from his nose with greatest precision, and placed on the 
table before another sitter. This was accomplished in 
full darkness. 6 



6. Sounds of various kinds are among the more 
usual occurrences of the seance-room. Mysterious raps 

1 See v. g. M. Brisson's report in Flammarion, Op. cit., p. 111. 

2 Flammarion, Op. cit., p. 371. 

3 M. Mathieu's report in Flammarion, Op. cit., pp. 116, 113. 

4 Prof . Porro's report in Flammarion, Op. cit., p. 181. 

5 His report on seance in Paris, Nov. 19, 1898, in Flammarion, Op. cit., 
p. 97. 

6 Flammarion, Op. cit., p. 160. 



Physical Phenomena 63 

constituted the initial phenomena of the spiritistic 
movement, and have ever since been popularly known 
as perhaps the most common means of communication 
on the part of the spirits. So far as messages pro- 
duced by rappings are concerned we shall return to 
them in another connection. 

At W. Stainton-Moses' seances there occurred a 
"great variety of raps, often given simultaneously, and 
ranging in force from the tapping of a finger nail to 
the tread of a foot sufficiently heavy to shake the room. 

Each spirit always had its own distinctive rap 

and those sounds often took place in sufficient light for 
the sitters to see each other's features and .... hands. 
. . . These raps could not possibly have been produced 
by any human agency. . . ," 1 Sir William Crookes 
thinks that the name of "raps" gives an erroneous im- 
pression of the phenomena. He says: 2 "At different 
times, during my experiments, I have heard delicate 
ticks, as with the point of a pin; a cascade of sharp 
sounds as from an induction coil in full work; detona- 
tions in- the air ; sharp metallic taps ; a cracking like that 
heard when a f rictional machine is at work ; sounds like 
scratching; the twittering as of a bird, etc." 

The variety in these phenomena to which Sir William 
makes reference will be found with most mediums — at 
least of the class which is not obviously fraudulent. The 
many reports on Eusapia Palladino's seances gathered 
by Professor Flammarion 3 show a variation ranging 
from ordinary taps as if produced with a finger to 
powerful thuds and blows. They do not always pro- 
ceed from the table, but sometimes from the floor or 
from objects in the room. 4 Miss Fox seems to have 

1 Extract from Charlton J. Spear's letter to Mr. Myers, Nov. 5, 1893, 
in Proceedings, 8. P. R., ix:345. 

2 "Researches, etc." p. 86. 

8 See "Mysterious Psychic Forces." 

* Ibid., p. 88, and M. J. Maxwell, "Les Phenomenes Psychiques," quoted 
by Flammarion in Op. cit., p. 360. 



64 Physical Phenomena 

been able to produce them at pleasure on any object. 
Again we quote Sir William: 1 

"With mediums, generally, it is necessary to sit for 
a formal seance before anything is heard ; but in the case 
of Miss Fox it seems only necessary for her to place her 
hand on any substance for loud thuds to be heard in it, 
like a triple pulsation, sometimes loud enough to be 
heard several rooms off. In like manner I have heard 
them in a living tree — on a sheet of glass — on a stretched 
iron wire — on a stretched membrane — a tambourine — 
on the roof of a cab — and on the floor of a theater. 
Moreover, actual contact is not always necessary; I 
have heard these sounds proceeding from the floor, walls, 
etc., when the medium's hands and feet were held — 
when she was standing on a chair — when she was en- 
closed in a wire cage — and when she had fallen fainting 
on a sofa. I have heard them on a glass harmonicon — 
I have felt them on my own shoulder and under my own 
hands." 

Eusapia Palladino obtained raps at a distance of ten 
feet, 2 and similar incidents are referred to by Dr. Max- 
well as having occurred with different mediums. 3 It 
should be noted that they are not always heard on an 
object but rather as if proceeding from within the same. 
This was adverted to by those who observed Palladino, 4 
by Sir William Crookes, 5 and by Dr. Maxwell, who 
writes, 6 "I have heard them on sheets of paper laid on 
the experiment table, in books, in walls, in tambourines, 
in small wooden objects, especially in a planchette used 
for automatic writing." He also noticed them in the 
wood of a pencil which was being used for automatic 

1 "Researches in Spiritualism," pp. 86-87. 

2 Flammarion, Op. cit., p. 88. 

3 Ibid., p. 361. 

4 See v. g. Flammarion, Op. cit., p. 88. 

5 "Researches in Spiritualism," p. 88. 

6 "Les Phtnomenes Psychiques," quoted by Flammarion, Op. cit., p. 
361. 



Physical Phenomena 65 

writing, carefully ascertaining that the pencil did not 
tap the table. 

Raps will sometimes occur following the gestures of 
the medium or of some one present. Eusapia Palladino 
on one occasion asked one of the sitters to lift his hand 
about eight inches above the table, and then made three 
taps thereon with her finger. The three taps were simul- 
taneously heard in the table. 1 At the same seance she 
freed her right hand and beating four or ^ve times in 
the air produced corresponding sounds on the tambourine 
in the cabinet. On another occasion while her hands 
were held her fingers executed the movements as if play- 
ing a tambourine, to which the tambourine in the cabinet 
accurately responded. 2 

Musical sounds occur less frequently than raps. We 
do not refer to musical sounds produced upon a musical 
instrument, for such are rather to be referred to as raps 
or as movement without contact. We shall have to con- 
fine ourselves to an account of some of the musical 
sounds heard during Mr. Moses' performances 3 in a 
room where there was no musical instrument. They 
were many and of great variety. Four types could be 
distinguished. First there was the sound of the "fairy 
bells," "resembling the tones produced by striking 
musical glasses with a small hammer," and apparently 
issuing from within the table. Moses testifies that he 
"saw (the spirit) Grocyn making the sounds; he stood 
pointing at the table, and as he pointed the sound was 
made. Behind him stood (Benjamin) Franklin. As 
the power failed, Franklin seemed to put more into him 
by passes. He gradually faded, and the sound ceased." 4 

1 M. Antoniadi's report on seance in Paris Nov. 21, 1898, in Flammarion, 
Op. cit., p. 105. 

2 Dr. Le Bon's report on seances Nov. 28, 1898, in Ibid., p. 101. 

3 C. T. Spear's letter in Proceedings, 8. P. R., xi: 346-347. 

* Experiences of Mr. Moses, seances Nov. 21, 1874, in Proceedings, 
8. P. R., xi:59. 



66 Physical Phenomena 

Next there was the sound of a stringed instrument 
akin to a violoncello. It was heard only in single notes, 
and used entirely by one spirit. The third sound was 
that of a hand-bell, which would be rung sharply to indi- 
cate the presence of a certain spirit. It issued from the 
walls, the ceiling, etc. Finally, a sound, difficult to 
describe, but resembling "the soft tune of a clarionet 
gradually increasing in intensity, until it rivalled the 
sound of a trumpet, then by degrees diminishing to the 
original subdued note of the clarionet, until it eventually 
died away in a long-drawn-out melancholy wail." It 
was always associated with a certain spirit. 1 

Other noises are frequently noticed at seances. Mr. 
Moses records: "a noise rather like sawing wood," and 
another time, 2 "little dropping sounds on the table 
which turned out to be minute beads." 



1 His notes of Sept. 19, 1872, in Proceedings, S. P. R., ix:285. 
2 Experiences of Mr. Moses in Ibid, xi : 59. 



CHAPTER III. 

Physical Phenomena. 
(Continued.) 

In the preceding chapter we have dealt with that 
part of the physical phenomena which apparently could 
not postulate a physical operation very complex in it- 
self, and it remains for us to make mention of those sug- 
gesting a more profound alteration in physical nature 
or implying the conveyance of intelligence by physical 
means. 

7. Elongation of human body. This phenomenon 
has been shown by a few mediums, principally D. D. 
Home, Heme, J. J. Morse and Peters. Lord Lindsay 
gives the following account of an elongation of Home 
which he had witnessed: 1 

"On another occasion I saw Mr. Home, in a trance, 
elongated eleven inches. I measured him standing up 
against the wall, and marked the place ; not being satis- 
fied with that, I put him in the middle of the room and 
placed a candle in front of him, so as to throw a shadow 
on the wall, which I also marked. When he awoke I 
measured him again in his natural size, both directly and 
by the shadow, and the results were equal. I can swear 
that he was not off the ground or standing on tiptoe, as 
I had full view of his feet, and, moreover, a gentleman 
present had one of his feet placed over Home's insteps, 
one hand on his shoulder, and the other on his side where 
the false ribs come near the hip-bone." 

In 1900 the medium Peters was elongated in 
Rev. C. J. M. Shaw's house, Shaw and his brother sit- 

1 Dialectical Report, p. 207. See also Podmore, "Modem Spiritualism," 
vol. II, p. 259. 



68 Physical Phenomena 

ting on each side of the medium, holding each one foot 
on the feet of Peters. Peters began to sway to and fro, 
then raised his arms and began to grow taller. Sud- 
denly his one arm was found to be six inches longer than 
the other, then the shorter arm was elongated to match 
the longer one. In the meantime Peters continued to 
grow. Finally he collapsed and fell to the floor. 1 



8. Touching of burning substances. Among Mr. 
Home's phenomena one of the most interesting is the 
so-called fire-ordeal, consisting in Home's or one of the 
sitters' taking in his hand a red-hot coal without suffer- 
ing injury or pain. On one occasion, in the presence of 
Sir William, Home put his hand into the fireplace and 
"very deliberately pulled the lumps of hot coal off, one 
at a time, with his right hand, and touched one which 
was bright red." Then placing his handkerchief like a 
cushion in his hand he put his other hand into the fire 
and "took out a large lump of cinder red hot at the lower 
part, and placed the red part on the handkerchief," 
where it remained for about half a minute without burn- 
ing the linen. 2 , On another occasion, also in Sir 
William's presence, "after stirring the hot coal about 
with his hand" he "took out (from the fireplace) a red- 
hot piece nearly as big as an orange" which he enclosed 
between his two hands "and then blew into the small 
furnace thus extemporized until the lump of charcoal 
was nearly white-hot, and then drew Sir William's at- 
tention to the lambent flame which was flickering over 
the coal and licking round his fingers." 3 Lord Lindsay 
during seances with Home eight times held a red-hot 
coal in his hand without injury, when it scorched his 
face on raising his hand. 4 

1 See Podmore, Op. cit., p. 260. 

2 Proceedings, 8. P. R., vi:103, 104. 

3 Ibid., 103. 

4 Dialectical Report, pp. 208-209. 



Physical Phenomena 69 

9. Production of objects and substances. This 
phenomenon consists in what appears to be production 
of substances in the seance-room, such as fluids, scents, 
lights, various objects and so forth. 

Scents of various descriptions were frequently 
brought to Mr. Moses' circle. There was musk, 
verbena, new-mown hay and "spirit-scent," an odour un- 
familiar to those present. At times liquid musk, etc., 
would be poured on the hands or handkerchiefs of the 
sitters, or heavy breezes of perfume would invade the 
room. At the end of a seance scent was often found 
oozing out from the medium's head, and the more it was 
wiped off the more plentiful it became. 1 Mr. Moses ex- 
plains 2 that "the scent is either carried, as it seems, 
round the circle, and it is then accompanied by cool air, 
or it is sprinkled down from the ceiling of the room in 

liquid form On certain occasions 

the scent is pungent and most painful if it gets into the 
eye. At other times it is harmless " 

But not only in the seance-room is the scent produced., 
Mr. Moses states 3 "that he has been walking with a 

friend into air laden with scent, and through 

it again into the natural atmosphere," and that he has 
known cases of scent having been produced and show- 
ered down in the open air. 

A phenomenon of equal interest presents itself in the 
production of lights and luminous substances in the 
seance-room. At Moses' seances two kinds of lights 
were observed — the objective, which were seen by all, 
and the subjective, which were seen only by persons of 
mediumistic temperament. The former usually were 
like small illuminated globes, shining brightly and 

1 Charlton Spear's letter to Myers in Proceedings, S. P. R., ix:346. See 
also Ibid., xi:32. 

2 Proceedings, S. P. R., ix:271. 

8 Proceedings, 8. P. R., ix:270. Showers of a fluid supposed to be water 
appeared during Prof. Zollner's experiments with Slade in Leipzig 1877-78, 
and also fire and smoke; Podmore, "Studies, etc.," p. 71. 



70 Physical Phenomena 

steadily and often rapidly moving about the room but 
never illuminating other objects. Again we quote 
Charlton Spear: 1 "A curious fact in connection with 
these lights always struck me, viz., that looking on the 
top of the table one could see a light slowly ascending 
from the floor, and to all appearances passing out 
through the top of the table, the table itself apparently 
not affording any obstacle to one's view of the light. 
The subjective lights were described as be- 
ing large masses of luminous vapour, floating round the 
room and assuming a variety of shapes." 

At one of Moses' seances "a pillar of light, very 
bright and diffused, descended the centre of the table 
and passed round the circle, vanishing near the ceiling. 
It was like a flash of light at first." 2 

At another seance Moses sat in the cabinet — being the 
bathroom closed off with a curtain — Dr. and Mrs. Spear 
and Mr. H. sitting on a sofa outside. The following 
then happened: 3 "Lights soon came, whilst I (Moses) 
was in deep trance. They are described to me as of a 
pale, soft light which was surrounded apparently with 
drapery. Mr. H. described it to me as a luminous 
crystal with a hand holding it. Mentor (a spirit), on 
being asked whether it was his hand, assented, and 
showed a gigantic finger before the light. There were 
about thirty lights. They flashed by with a comet-like 
motion at times, and then again stood at the opening, 
gradually fading away." 

The luminous appearances observed by Sir William 
Crookes bear a certain resemblance to those of Moses' 
seances. The distinguished physicist writes: 4 

"Under the strictest test conditions, I have seen a 
solid self-luminous body, the size and nearly the shape 

better to Myers in Proceedings, S. P. R., ix:345. 
2 Proceedings, 8. P. R., ix:311. 

3 Ibid., p. 314. 

4 Researches in Spiritualism, p. 91. 



Physical Phenomena 71 

of a turkey's egg, float noiselessly about the room, at 
one time higher than any one present could reach stand- 
ing on tip-toe, and then gently descend to the floor. It 
was visible for more than ten minutes, and before it 
faded away it struck the table three times with a sound 
like that of a hard, solid body. During this time the 
medium was lying back, apparently insensible, in an 
easy chair. 

"I have seen luminous points of light darting about 
and settling on the heads of different persons; I have 
had questions answered by the flashing of a bright light 
a desired number of times in front of my face. I have 
seen sparks of light rising from the table to the ceiling, 
and again falling upon the table, striking it with an 
audible sound. I have had an alphabetic communication 
given by luminous flashes occurring before me in the 
air, whilst my hand was moving about amongst them. 
I have seen a luminous cloud floating upwards to a 
picture. Under the strictest test conditions, I have more 
than once had a solid, self-luminous, crystalline body 
placed in my hand by a hand which did not belong to 
any person in the room. In the light I have seen a 
luminous cloud hover over a heliotrope on a side table, 
break a sprig off, and carry the sprig to a lady ; and on 
some occasions I have seen a similar luminous cloud 
visibly condense to the form of a hand and carry small 
objects about." 

Lights were occasionally seen at the Palladino seances, 
but they were usually of an inconspicuous appearance, 
"like a will-o'-the-wisp, similar to electric sparks." 1 
These lights seldom lasted for more than a few seconds. 
They were mostly seen in the cabinet. There is a record of 
a luminous zigzag line shaped like a very tall N appear- 
ing on the curtain; 2 again, of a pear-shaped gleam in 

1 V. Sardou's report on seance in Paris, Nov. 19, 1898, in Flammarion, 
Op. cit., p. 97. 

2 M. Armelin's report on seance in Paris, Nov. 21, 1898, in Ibid., p. 108. 



72 Physical Phenomena 

the ceiling 1 and of "a large white star of the colour of 
Vega, though larger and of a softer light, and which 
rests motionless for some seconds, then is extin- 
guished." 2 At Politi's seances there were lights appear- 
ing and disappearing in the air, some of which gave the 
outline of a curve, and two luminous crosses about four 
inches high. 3 It should be noted that for the most part 
the so-called "spirit lights" did not give any radiation. 

10. Materialization. Apparitions as such are not 
proper to Spiritism but have always formed an experi- 
ence in human life. Generally speaking they consist in 
phantoms, be it of persons still living, of those departed 
or of beings recognized as angels, men, demons or simply 
as spirits of unidentified character. 

The apparitions properly belonging to Spiritism are 
of far narrower compass, being limited to what are 
claimed to be phantoms of the departed. They may be 
visible to several persons or to all those present, again 
they may be visible but to one individual in the company. 
The individual apparitions give the impression of be- 
ing of a subjective rather than of an objective char- 
acter, and would suggest hallucinatory effects in the 
subject rather than images obtained by sense per- 
ception ; be they what they may, their place is evidently 
among psychical phenomena. The same, undoubtedly, 
is true of certain collective apparitions. 

However, apparitions seen by all or several partici- 
pants in a seance are usually identified with what the 
Spiritists call "materialized" spirit forms, an expression 
which must be understood in the light of the spiritistic 
theory of the nature of the human soul with its astral 
substance. The materialized spirit form usually has a 
very human appearance, moves about the room, speaks 

X V. Sardou's report as above. 
*M. Armelin's report as above. 
3 Flammarion, Op. cit., p. 371. 



Physical Phenomena 73 

and at times even allows itself to be touched by the sit- 
ters. On more rare occasions there have been collective 
apparitions of far less material looking beings — the 
phantom being shadowy and semi-transparent. 
Whether or not such apparitions be objective, investiga- 
tion may some day show. In the present classification 
we judge only from appearances. 

The materialization phenomena proper consist in ap- 
paritions of hands, arms, busts and whole human bodies, 
sometimes transparent or luminous, sometimes most 
realistically life-like. To frequenters of spiritistic 
seances they are a familiar spectacle, and examples could 
be adduced ad libitum. But for reasons which later will 
be set forth, we shall seek our illustrations only among 
phenomena produced during well controlled seances. 
Sir William Crookes relates some instances of having 
seen hands, 1 thus, v. g., "a beautifully-formed small 
hand rose up from an opening in the dining-table and 
gave (him) a flower," appearing and disappearing 
three times. On another occasion, "a small hand and 
arm, like a baby's, appeared playing about a lady who 
was sitting next to (him). It then passed to (him) and 
patted (his) arm and pulled (his) coat several times." 
He goes on to say: "The hands and fingers do not al- 
ways appear to me to be solid and life-like. Sometimes, 
indeed, they present more the appearance of a nebulous 
cloud partly condensed into the form of a hand. This is 
not equally visible to all present. For instance, a flower 
or other small object is seen to move; one person pres- 
ent will see a luminous cloud hovering over it, another 
will detect a nebulous-looking hand, while others 
will see nothing at all but the moving flower. I have 
more than once seen, first, an object move, then a 
luminous cloud appear to form about it, and, lastly, 
the cloud condense into shape and become a perfectly- 
formed hand. At this stage the hand is visible to all 
present. It is not always a mere form, but sometimes 

1 Researches in Spiritualism, p. 92. 



74 Physical Phenomena 

appears perfectly life-like and graceful, the fingers 
moving and the flesh apparently as human as that of 
any in the room. At the wrist, or arm, it becomes hazy, 
and fades off into a luminous cloud. 

"To the touch, the hand sometimes appears icy cold 
and dead; at other times, warm and life-like, grasping 
my own with the firm pressure of an old friend." 

This description is significant in that it shows a tran- 
sition and connection between the phenomenon we have 
described under the name of apport, and those of ma- 
terialization and production of luminous substances. 

Similar phenomena are abundantly recorded from 
Eusapia Palladino's many seances. Faces and hands 
were often seen. Once it was a "small hand, like that 
of a little girl of fifteen years, the palm forward, the 
fingers joined, the thumb projecting. The color of this 
hand is livid; its form is not rigid, nor is it fluid; one 
would say rather that it is the hand of a big doll stuffed 
with bran." "When the hand moves back from the 
brighter light, as it disappears it seems to lose its shape, 
as if the fingers were being broken, beginning with the 
thumb." 1 

Another time two hands were simultaneously seen 
upon the glass panes of a window which was feebly il- 
luminated from the outside. They "exhibited a rapid 
tremulous motion, but not so rapid as to hinder us from 
seeing the outline clearly. They were wholly opaque 
and were thrown upon the window as absolutely black 
silhouettes." 2 Again, a white hand was seen between 
the curtains, above the medium's head, and at the same 
time somebody felt his hair pulled. One of the sitters 
saw the hand stretched out a second time, touching the 
shoulder of a gentleman present. 3 

*M. Levy's report on seance in Paris, Nov. 16, 1898, in Flammarion, 
Mysterious Psychic Forces, p. 89. 

2 Flammarion, Op. cit., p. 159. 

3 M. Armelin's report on seances in Paris, Nov. 21, 1898, in Flam- 
marion, Op. cit., p. 107. 



Physical Phenomena 75 

One night in Milan pieces of cardboard painted with 
a phosphorescent substance 1 were placed on the seance 
table and on various chairs in the room. The outline of 
a hand was then clearly seen on the piece placed on the 
table while the shadow of a hand kept passing and re- 
passing over the chairs. 2 

We have already referred to the seance at which M. 
Pallotti and his wife embraced and kissed a being, in- 
visible to the rest of the circle and believed to be their 
defunct daughter on a spirit visit. A moment before 
the kisses were heard Professor Flammarion several 
times saw "the head of a young girl bowing before 
(him) with high-arched forehead and with long hair." 3 

The silhouette of a young girl of slightly less than 
average stature was indistinctly seen at the lower end 
of the cabinet — the curtains having opened themselves. 
"The head of this apparition was not very distinct. It 
seemed surrounded by a sort of shaded aureole. The 

whole form of the statue stood out very little 

from the dim obscurity from which it had emerged ; that 
is to say, it was not very luminous." M. Le Bocain, 
who saw this apparition and in it thought himself to 
recognize his sister, asked it in Arabic to identify itself 
by pulling the hair on the back of his head three times. 
Ten minutes later this was done. 4 

We can not refrain from quoting the following from 
M. Sully Prudhomme's description of a seance held 
with Palladino in Auteuil in 1896 : 5 "A dark bust 
moves forward upon the table, coming from where 
Eusapia sits; then another, and still another. 'They 
look like Chinese ghosts,' says M. Mangin, with the 
difference, that I, who am better placed, owing to the 

1 Sulphide of calcium. 

2 Flammarion, Op. cit., p. 159. 

3 Flammarion, Op. cit., p. 128. 

4 M. Le Bocain's report on seance in Paris, Nov. 14, 1898, in Flam- 
marion, Op. cit., p. 117. 
5 See Ibid., p. 177. 



76 Physical Phenomena 

light from the window, am able to perceive the 
dimensions of these singular images, and above all their 
thickness. All these black busts are busts of women, of 
life size; but, although vague, they do not look like 
Eusapia. The last of them, of fine shape, is that of a 
woman who seems young and pretty. These half- 
lengths, which seem to emanate from the medium, glide 
along between us; and, when they have gone as far as 
the middle of the table or two-thirds of its length, they 
sink down altogether (all of a piece, as it were), and 

vanish I murmur, 'One would think he was 

looking at busts moulded in papier-mache.' Eusapia 
heard me. 'No, not papier-mache/ she says in- 
dignantly. She does not give any other explanation, 
but says, 'In order to prove to you that it is not the 
body of the medium, I am going to show you a man 
with a beard. Attention!' I do not see anything, but 
Dr. Dariex feels his face rubbed against for quite a 
while by a beard." 

Katie King, the sister of John King, the ghost, has 
given us abundant material for the study of materializa- 
tion through the pen of Sir William Crookes, who con- 
ducted a series of experiments with her medium Miss 
Florence Cook, which he describes in his "Researches in 
Spiritualism. 3 ' At the first seances 1 a back drawing- 
room was used as cabinet, i. e., it was separated by 
means of a curtain from the front room, where the com- 
pany was sitting. 

At the beginning of the seance the medium retired 
into the cabinet. "After a little time the form Katie 
appeared at the side of the curtain, but soon retired, 
saying her medium was not well, and could not be put 
into a sufficiently deep sleep to make it safe for her to 
be left. I was sitting within a few feet of the curtain 
close behind which Miss Cook was sitting and could 
frequently hear her moan and sob, as if in pain 

^p. cit., p. 103. 



Physical Phenomena 77 

I admit that the figure was startlingly life-like and 
real, and, as far as I could see in the somewhat dim 
light, the features resembled those of Miss Cook; but 
still the positive evidence of one of my own senses that 
the moan came from Miss Cook in the cabinet, whilst 
the figure was outside, is too strong to be upset by a 
mere inference to the contrary, however well sup- 
ported." 

On another occasion: 1 ". . . . after Katie had been 
walking amongst us and talking for some time, she re- 
treated behind the curtain which separated my labora- 
tory, where the company was sitting, from my library, 
which did temporary duty as a cabinet. In a minute 
she came to the curtain and called me to her, saying, 
'Come into the room and lift my medium's head up, 
she has slipped down.' Katie was then standing be- 
fore me clothed in her usual white robes and turban 
head-dress." Sir William then walked into the cabinet 
and found Miss Cook, dressed in black velvet, in a 
trance, having slipped partially from the sofa. Three 
seconds elapsed between his seeing Katie and the 
medium. 

Later Katie was seen behind Miss Cook, who was 
crouching on the floor. 2 Sir William, having on one 
occasion embraced the ghost Katie, states that she "was 
as material a being as Miss Cook herself." 3 To make 
sure that Katie was not impersonated by Miss Cook, 
Sir William had a photograph of himself and Katie 
taken, and later, on the same spot of the floor and with 
identical arrangement of posture, cameras, light, etc., 
another photograph of himself and Miss Cook dressed 
like Katie. "When these two pictures are placed over 
each other," Sir William writes, 4 "the two photographs 
of myself coincide exactly as regards stature, etc., but 

1 "Researches, etc." p. 105. 

2 Ibid., pp. 106-107. 

3 Ibid., p. 106. 

4 Ibid., p. 110. 



78 Physical Phenomena 

Katie is half a head taller than Miss Cook, and looks a 
big woman in comparison with her." Other differences 
are noted in the breadth of her face and on several 
other points. 

The closing seance was very dramatic. We quote 
Sir William: 1 "When the time came for Katie to take 
her farewell I asked that she would let me see the last 
of her. Accordingly when she had called each of the 
company up to her and had spoken to them a few words 
in private, she gave some general directions for the 
future guidance and protection of Miss Cook" .... 
(she then) "invited me into the cabinet with her, and 
allowed me to remain there to the end." 

"After closing the curtain she conversed with me for 
some time, and then walked across the room to where 
Miss Cook was lying senseless on the floor. Stooping 
over her, Katie touched her, and said, 'Wake up 
Florrie, wake up! I must leave you now!' Miss Cook 
then woke and tearfully entreated Katie to stay a little 
time longer. 'My dear, I can't ; my work is done. God 
bless you,' Katie replied, and then continued speaking 
to Miss Cook. For several minutes the two were con- 
versing with each other, till at last Miss Cook's tears 
prevented her speaking. Following Katie's instruc- 
tions I then came forward to support Miss Cook, who 
was falling on to the floor, sobbing hysterically. I 
looked round, but the white-robed Katie had gone." 

Sir William had observed Katie carefully, in strong 
electric light, and found certain differences between her 
and the medium, such as marks on Miss Cook's face ab- 
sent on Katie's, different colour of hair — Katie's was of 
a rich, golden auburn, and Sir William cut a lock of it 
which he kept — and so on. He says : 2 "I have the most 
absolute certainty that Miss Cook and Katie are two 
separate individuals so far as their bodies are con- 
cerned." 



1 "Researches, etc." p. 111. 

2 Ibid., p. 110. 



Physical Phenomena 79 

A somewhat parallel case to Katie King's is found 
in that of Bien Boa — the materialized spirit of an 
Oriental warrior in white draperies and with a helmet 
on his head, who appeared during a succession of seances 
held in 1905 in a small pavilion belonging to the "Villa 
Carmen" in Algiers. 1 M. Richet tells us that this 
martial phantom, which would develop from a white 
ball before the cabinet curtain, and disappear in the 
same manner, was in possession of all attributes of life, 
that he had seen it walk, and go and come in the room, 
that he had heard the sound of its footsteps, its breath- 
ing and its voice. It was successfully photographed. 

The medium was Mile. B , the nineteen-year-old 

daughter of a retired army officer. 

Phenomena of this kind have been very frequent with 
mediums operating from a cabinet. It should be noted 
that when the medium remains — or does she not? — in 
the cabinet the exceedingly life-like phantom is pro- 
duced, whereas the nebulous, shadowy or transparent 
phantom is seen when, as in the case of Palladino, the 
medium sits in the seance-room outside the cabinet. 
There are instances of phantoms seen by one or a few 
individuals, appearing in a room without a cabinet. 
These, we think, should rather be recorded among 
psychical phenomena. To draw a sharp line of dis- 
tinction between phantoms of the two orders would be 
impossible without involving preconceived ideas as to 
their production. 

11. Impressions in clay, putty or other plastic sub- 
stances of hands, fingers and faces have not seldom been 
witnessed at spiritistic seances. Such impressions are 
usually claimed to represent the features of a spirit, 
and so far as those of faces are concerned they at times 
strongly suggest the gargoyle rather than the species 
of humanity one is pleased to meet. 

1 The Annals of Psychical Science, Oct. and Nov., 1905. 



80 Physical Phenomena 

The phenomenon is usually linked to materialization 
seances and not rarely is the impression obtained inside 
the cabinet. It shows very little variation, and we shall 
content ourselves with giving a few examples from the 
Palladino seances. 

In the course of Professor Flammarion's experi- 
ments with this famous medium a tray of putty weigh- 
ing about nine pounds was placed on a chair twenty 
inches behind the cabinet curtain in front of which 
Eusapia was sitting. The chair then moved forward 
above the head of the medium and sitters and came to 
rest on the head of one of the latter whose husband re- 
ceived the tray with putty softly deposited upon his 
head. Suddenly Eusapia, rising, cries out, "E fatto" 
and, the lights having been turned on, those present were 
able to discover the profile of a human face impressed 
in the putty, a photographic reproduction of which 
shows a striking likeness to Mme. Palladino. It should 
be added that the gentleman on whose head the putty 
had been deposited had felt no pressure upon the tray 
to indicate that an impression was being made, and that 
a lady sitter immediately after the experiment kissed 
the medium upon both cheeks without perceiving the 
odour of linseed oil. 1 

We refer to another instance. It was at a dark 
seance, and Eusapia's head was resting heavily upon 
that of Dr. Ochorowicz, who writes: 2 "At the moment 
of the production of the phenomenon a convulsive 
trembling shook her whole body, and the pressure of 
her head on my temples was so intense that it hurt me. 
At the moment when the strongest convulsion took 
place, she cried, 'Ah, che dura!' We at once lighted a 



1 Flammarion, "Mysterious Psychic Forces," pp. 74-76; reproduction of 
the impression and photograph of E. P. opposite page 76. For other prints 
received at seances with the same medium see Op. cit. opposite p. 138, 
cfr. Flournoy, "Spiritism and Psychology," p. 256. For other instances 
see Op. cit., pp. 22, 163, 184. 

2 "The Externalization of Motivity" p. 406. 



Physical Phenomena 81 

candle and found a print, rather poor in comparison 
with those which other experimenters have obtained — 
a thing due, perhaps, to the bad quality of the clay 
which I used. This clay was placed about twenty 
inches to the right of the medium, while her head was 
inclined to the left. Her face was not at all soiled by 
the clay, which was yet so moist as to leave traces upon 
the fingers when touched." 

The tray was then placed on the dining-room table 
near a big kerosene lamp and Eusapia, in trance, hav- 
ing remained for some moments at the table, moved 
backward into the adjoining seance-room, the experi- 
menters following her. "We had already got into the 
chamber," Dr. Ochorowicz continues, "when, leaning 
against one of the halves of the double door, she fixed 
her eyes upon the tray of clay which had been left upon 
the table. The medium was in a very good light: we 
were separated from her by a distance of from six to 
ten feet, and we perceived distinctly all the details. All 
of a sudden Eusapia stretched her hand out abruptly 
toward the clay, then sank down uttering a groan. We 
rushed precipitately towards the table and saw, side by 
side with the imprints of the head, a new imprint, very 
marked, of a hand which had been thus produced under 
the very light of the lamp, and which resembled the 
hand of Eusapia." 

Impressions of hands and fingers have also been re- 
ceived on paper blackened with the smoke of a lamp. 
The prepared paper was placed on the table opposite 
the medium whose two hands were held each by a mem- 
ber of the circle. Not only were impressions of fingers 
and of a whole human hand obtained in the lampblack, 
but upon request the soot was transferred to and rubbed 
over the hand of one of the controllers while the 
medium's hands remained perfectly clean. It was pos- 
sible to constate that the impressions received had a 



82 Physical Phenomena 

striking resemblance to Eusapia's hands and fingers — 
the fingerprints being exactly hers. 1 



12. Spirit-photography. There have been few pro- 
fessional spirit-photographers of note, although, no 
doubt, the art has been practiced to some extent in 
private circles. Mr. Raupert in his "Dangers of 
Spiritualism" 2 reproduces four spirit-photographs, the 
first showing a cloud-like formation near the human 
image, the other three a more or less clear figure of a 
woman and a man draped in sheets. Others may be 
seen in H. Carrington's "The Physical Phenomena of 
Spiritualism." 3 The following is a description of a 
photograph taken in Mr. Parks' studio: 4 "It was taken 
on a plate freshly purchased, and which had never been 
in Mr. Parks' possession. The plate had been prepared 
and placed in the shield, when a photographer who was 
present requested that it might be taken out and turned 
upside down before exposure. This was done, and, on 
developing the plate, a rude outline of a figure, com- 
posed of two busts, appears; the busts pointing in op- 
posite directions." 

Among spirit-photographs a certain number has been 
recognized as likenesses of deceased persons, but these 
cases are comparatively rare. 5 In 1874 Buguet took 
a photograph of Mr. Moses while in trance lying in his 
bed. Two exposures were made; the first — being the 
first half of the plate — showed hardly discernible fea- 
tures, while the second gave a good effigy of Moses. But 

1 Statement concerning the Milan sittings 1892, in Flammarion, Op. 
cit., p. 158. 

2 pp. 67, 70, 72 and 74. 

3 See list of Illustrations. 

4 Mrs. Sidgwick on Spirit-photographs in Proceedings, 8. P. R., vii:270 
et seq. ; cfr. Human Nature, Apr. 1875, p. 157. 

5 Mr. Moses in Human Nature, June 1876, p. 268, states that "out of 
some six hundred photographs which I have seen and examined, and of 
most of which I have heard the history, I do not know of half a dozen 
in which the expected form appeared." 



Physical Phenomena 83 

a voice, which used to communicate with Moses, later in- 
formed him that the first picture was a photograph of 
the ghostly owner of that voice as he — or it?— looked in 
life. 1 

There are some famous cases of this phenomenon such 

as the photograph taken in the library of D Hall on 

the day of Lord D.'s funeral, which, on being developed 
six months later, showed the image and likeness of 
Lord D. 2 For literature on the subject see Mrs. Sidg- 
wick's article in the Proceedings? 

13. Direct spirit-messages. The original means of 
communication with spirits was found in the so-called 
rappings which throughout the movement have con- 
tinued to constitute the principal conveyor of messages. 
The raps may be taken to indicate an affirmative answer 
to simple questions, a series of raps to indicate a num- 
ber or, again, the alphabet system may be used, in 
which the receiver of a rap-message lets his finger glide 
from letter to letter on a printed alphabet. When it 
passes the letter which the "communicator" wishes to 
indicate a rap is heard and a note of the letter is then 
taken. In this fashion the message is spelled out letter 
after letter. Doubt or emphasis is sometimes expressed 
by faintness or vehemence in the raps. A peculiar form 
of rap messages is found in so-called "spirit-teleg- 
raphy." 

Spirit-writing, however, furnishes a more satisfactory 
means of communication than the rap-method. There 
are different kinds of spirit-writing, the various 
phenomena falling into two groups, direct and indirect. 
The direct writing, to all appearances, is performed 
without an intermediary, the spirits themselves produc- 
ing the script, whereas the indirect writing is performed 

1 Proceedings, 8. P. R., vii: 287-288. 

'Podmore, "Modern Spiritualism," vol. II, p. 124. 

3 Proceedings, 8. P. R., vii: 269 et seq. 



84 Physical Phenomena 

through an intermediary, i. e., the medium, acting as 
amanuensis. We shall treat in this chapter of direct 
writing alone, the indirect properly belonging to the 
psychic phenomena. 

Direct spirit- writing takes several forms. The 
spirits write their messages either on a slip of paper 
placed in the seance-room, or on slates, or, again, by 
employing the planchette. 

The first kind of writing is very common, and was a 
frequent occurrence at W. Stainton-Moses' seances. 
In his letter to Myers, Mr. Charlton T. Spear writes : 1 
"Direct writing was often given, sometimes on a sheet 
of paper placed in the center of the table and 
equidistant from all the sitters; at other times one of 
us would place our hands on a piece of paper previously 
dated and initialed, and usually a message was found 
written upon it at the conclusion of the seance. We al- 
ways placed a pencil upon the paper, but sometimes we 
only provided a small piece of lead, the result being the 
same in both cases. Usually the writing took the form 
of answering questions which we had asked. . . ." 

At a seance in 1872 2 , held by Moses in the presence 
of Dr. and Mrs. Spear, a piece of ruled paper with a 
corner torn off for identification and a pencil were put 
on the floor under the table. Various raps and a noise 
"rather like sawing wood" were heard and objects 
brought into the room, and at the end of the seance, the 
lights having been turned on, the paper when picked up 
was found to contain a message exactly following the 
ruling. 

At another seance Moses relates: 3 "I had seen a 
veiled figure standing by Dr. Spear. Mrs. Spear could 
see the light, but could not distinguish the figure. It 

1 Proceedings, 8. P. R., ix:347. 

2 Sept. 19th. See Proceedings, 8. P. R., ix:285, with fac-simile of the 
message. 

3 Proceedings, 8. P. R., xi: 32-33. 



Physical Phenomena 85 

did not seem to move, and was apparently outside the 

circle, near the window curtains Presently 

distinctive raps came on the table, and 'Charles Louis 
Napoleon Bonaparte, I salute you,' was rapped out. 
Dr. S. questioned the spirit in French, and answers were 
returned correctly. A curious instance of this was as 
follows: Dr. S. intended to ask the name of Napoleon's 
mother, but by mistake asked for his wife's name. This 
was given, a response not to the mental intent, but to 

the spoken question Dr. S. asked for some 

direct writing on one of the two marked papers, and 
assent was given, 'J'ecrirai. Taisez-vous !' Mentor 
controlled, and said that it was really the spirit of 
Napoleon, late Emperor of the French. They would 
write on the paper near Dr. Spear's foot, that being 
nearest to where the figure had been standing. After 
his control passed I was, as is frequently the case, clair- 
voyant, and described the face of the Emperor, his 
waxed imperial and moustache, his impressive marble 
face, and wound up by saying he was a 'regular 
Mephistopheles.' The form was just in the same place, 
and apparently could not come within the circle. Men- 
tor was at my right hand, and rapped clearly at request 
with his double knock. All this time our hands were 
joined, and remained so until the seance closed, and we 
found on the paper close by Dr. Spear's foot writing 
of which I append a facsimile/' 

There are many instances of writing obtained in 
languages supposedly unknown to the medium. Baron 
de Guldenstubbe obtained writing in Latin, Greek, 
Russian, French, German, English, etc., the writers be- 
ing spirits of greatest fame, such as Mary Stuart, St. 
Paul, Cicero, Melchisedec, Plato and Juvenal. 1 



lu La R6alite des Esprits et le phenomene merveilleux et leur 
ecriture direct," quoted by Podmore in "Modern Spiritualism," vol. II, pp. 
188-189. 



86 Physical Phenomena 

Sir William Crookes relates some interesting facts 
about spirit-writing. 1 At a dark seance, Miss Kate 
Fox being the medium, a luminous hand came down 
from the upper part of the room, took the pencil from 
his hand and began to write on a sheet of paper. At an- 
other seance held in daylight a pencil, which had been 
placed together with paper on the table, suddenly stood 
up and advanced by hesitating jerks to the paper, where 
it fell down exhausted. A lath now began to move and 
apparently came to its aid, but in spite of their com- 
bined efforts the couple of them did not succeed in pro- 
ducing a message. 

Slate-writing came to prominence through Mr. Slade, 
who had many followers in the art, notably Mr. Eglin- 
ton. The sittings at which the writing is produced often 
take place in broad daylight and the script is received on 
an ordinary school-slate or on the inside of a double 
slate fitted with hinges and lock. Mr. S. J. Davey 
records the following experiences with Mr. Eglinton: 2 
"I procured two ordinary slates at a stationer's shop, 
and these did not leave my possession during the seance. 
At first we obtained messages by simply putting a piece 
of slate-pencil on one slate and holding the slate on the 
table. After a while the force became stronger, and 
messages with various styles of writing were received. 
But the best test of all was when I put a crumb of pencil 
on the slate, and then put another slate over that ; hold- 
ing the two slates together myself, I then asked if I 
should ever become a medium. No sooner was the ques- 
tion asked than I heard the pencil within begin to move ; 
.... and in a few seconds three small raps were 
heard, and .... when I removed the upper slate I 
found the following message written in a clear and good 
hand. I was particular to notice that the small crumb 

of pencil was nearly worn out " 

i 

1 "Researches, etc.," p. 93. 

2 Journal, 8. P. R., 1886, p. 436. 



Physical Phenomena 87 

At another sitting: 1 "Between the famous slate pre- 
sented to Mr. Eglinton by a distinguished personage, 
with a strong Brahma lock securely fastened by myself, 
we obtained messages in the well-known handwriting 
of (the spirit) Joey." Later at the same sitting mes- 
sages in Greek were given. 

Planchette-writing is done with a small, oval wooden 
board having a pencil stuck through a hole at one end. 
It is placed on a table with the point of the pencil on a 
sheet of paper. Sometimes two or more, sometimes one 
person alone, by placing the hands lightly on the instru- 
ment will cause it to move, leaving writing or drawing 
on the paper. The following account is taken from the 
Proceedings: 2 

"On January 28 last I called at the house of some 
friends; and on this occasion there was some planchette 

writing Some four or five of us sat around a 

table in a full and well-lighted room. The operator of 
the planchette was a lady; her husband was at the 

table Different communications were received 

by different ones at the table .... from different 
friends (as the Spiritualists say), who have passed into 
the spirit world." Among other messages received 
there was one from the sister of the narrator, who died 
in infancy and neither could have been known by the 
medium, nor had been in the narrator's mind for years. 
The message as written out by the planchette read: 
"Mr. Lewis, I am his sister, I am glad you came here 
to-night; come again (signed) Angeline." Examples 
of this kind could be multiplied at pleasure. 

Spirit- telegraphy has a certain superficial re- 
semblance to wireless telegraphy. The message is sent 
between two parties sitting in different rooms, one of 
which is in "rapport" with the operating spirit. At both 
stations the identical message is received, delivered by 

1 Journal, 8. P. R., 1886, p. 437. 

2 Proceedings, S. P. B., ix:64. 



88 Physical Phenomena 

means of raps resembling in sound the tickings of a 
telegraphic apparatus. The distance between the sta- 
tions is often considerable, messages having been sent 
between New York and Washington. The following 
is an account of an early instance, the medium being 
Mrs. Draper of Rochester: 1 "On the appointed day 
the above-named persons convened; .... and as 
soon as order was observed, the question was asked, 
'What are the directions of Benjamin Franklin V A. 
'Hurry; first magnetize Mrs. Draper.' This was done, 

The company was divided as follows: 

(five persons, among them Mrs. Fox and Catherine 
Fox), in a retired room, with two doors closed between 
them. Mrs. Draper, Mr. Draper (two other gentle- 
men) and Margaretta Fox remained in the parlor. 
Sounds unusually loud were heard in each room by 
either company, as before, resembling the telegraphic 
sounds. They were so unusual that Miss Fox became 
alarmed, and said, 'What does all this mean?' Mrs. 
Draper, while her countenance was irradiated with ani- 
mation, replied, 'He is trying the batteries.' Soon there 
was the signal for the alphabet, and the following com- 
munication was spelled to the company in the parlor: 
'Now I am ready, my friends. There will be great 
changes in the nineteenth century. Things that now 
look dark and mysterious to you will be laid plain be- 
fore your sight. Mysteries are going to be revealed. 
The world will be enlightened. I sign my name, Benja- 
min Franklin.' " 

One of the sitters in the retired room, directed by the 
sounds, now came in the parlor carrying the message 
received by his party. It was identical to the one re- 
ceived in the parlor, except for the addition, "Go in the 
parlor and compare notes." 

1 Podmore, "Modern Spiritualism," vol. I, pp. 252-253. 



Physical Phenomena 89 

14. Spirit voices. Spiritists often tell of hearing 
voices, meaning an "inner voice" not perceived through 
the air. This phenomenon, however, belongs to the 
purely psychical group, the "voice" being but a kind of 
intuition. Spirit-voices, as we here shall employ the 
term, refers to clearly externalized voices, at least to all 
appearances perceived with the ear. As in the case of 
apparitions there are two kinds of spirit-voices, those 
heard by all present, and those heard only by single in- 
dividuals in an assembly. 

The former kind occurs frequently with physical 
mediums, usually during more stormy seances, and has 
a close resemblance to so-called Poltergeist phenomena. 
We shall content ourselves with referring to Mr. Koons' 
pre- Adamite spirits who were wont to deliver speeches 
through a horn or a trumpet or confidentially to whisper 
in the ears of the sitters. 1 It would be of no particular 
interest to describe this kind of performance in detail. 

The latter kind has a certain resemblance to appari- 
tions of phantoms, but occurs more rarely than these. 
It is found mainly in connection with psychic medium- 
ship; thus Mrs. Thompson occasionally perceives ex- 
ternal voices, which are not heard by those in her 
presence. 2 A certain lady, we are told by Mr. Myers, 3 
could hear human voices and musical sounds by holding 
a shell to her ear. 



*See p. 22. 

2 Proceedings, 8. P. R., xvii:70. 

3 Proceedings, 8. P. R., viii:492. 



CHAPTER IV. 

Psychical Phenomena. 

The purely psychical phenomena of Spiritism may be 
defined as internal, intelligent and immediate mani- 
festations apparently of an occult agency, directly ex- 
pressed by the recipient. We call them internal be- 
cause, in so far as they have a source outside the recipi- 
ent, they are not conveyed to him through the channels 
of sense-perception; they are intelligent, because they 
convey an intelligent message, as it were from an in- 
telligent being outside the recipient to the mind of the 
recipient, or they even sometimes show an actual 
usurpation on the part of the outside intelligence of the 
control over certain faculties of the recipient naturally 
exercised by his own will. Finally, they are immediate 
in so far as they require — to all appearances — no 
medium of transmission between their apparent out- 
side source and the recipient. Their only outward ap- 
pearance consists in the expression given to them by the 
external faculties of the recipient. 

The phenomena reduce themselves to a few closely 
allied groups which we shall describe under the head- 
ings apparitions, automatic speaking and writing, and 
crystal gazing. It should be noted that they are not 
peculiar to Spiritism, for in their essential aspects they 
are ancient, varying in form and appearance as from 
time to time they have emerged upon the field of human 
experience. To a certain extent they are recognized in 
Mesmerism and especially in the life of Emanuel 
Swedenborg, and they are exhibited in quarters which 
disclaim any connection in their regard with spirits. 
We shall present here only such phenomena as are more 
commonly observed among spiritistic mediums. 



Psychical Phenomena 91 

1. Apparitions. Collective apparitions of more im- 
material looking phantoms belong to the rare phenom- 
ena of the seance-room. In dealing with materializa- 
tion we stated the difficulty in determining whether in- 
dividual cases of this kind of apparitions should be re- 
ferred to as physical or as psychical phenomena. Of 
course, the difficulty lies in determining — on the face 
of the phenomenon — whether it should be thought to 
exhibit an objective reality, or whether it should rather 
be regarded as a subjective reality — a hallucination in- 
duced from some source or other. The difficulty is 
naturally lessened when the apparition is seen by only 
a minority in the company. 1 We shall present here 
two cases from Crookes' experiments with D. D. Home, 
which might be classified under either heading. 2 

"In the dusk of the evening, during a seance with Mr. 
Home at my house, the curtains of a window about eight 
feet from Mr. Home were seen to move. A dark, 
shadowy, semi-transparent form, like that of a man, 
was then seen by all present standing near the window, 
waving the curtain with his hand. As we looked, the 
form faded away and the curtains ceased to move." 

"The following is a still more striking instance. As 
in the former case, Mr. Home was the medium. A 
phantom form came from a corner of the room, took an 
accordion in its hand, and then glided about the room 
playing the instrument. The form was visible to all 
present for many minutes, Mr. Home also being seen 
at the same time. Coming rather close to a lady who 



1 Certain phantoms of the Palladino seances were seen by a minority, 
but it should be noted that they could be seen by anybody looking from 
a particular part of the seance-room. This fact we think would indicate 
their real objectivity, and that they were visible only from certain parts 
of the room. We have consequently classified these phenomena as 
physical. 

'Researches, etc.," p. 94. 



2 «i 



92 Psychical Phenomena 

was sitting apart from the rest of the company, she 
gave a slight cry, upon which it vanished." 

Another example of collective apparition occurred in 
the house of Mr. Z. where W. L. had been in service as 
butler for half a year. During this time he on several 
occasions had seen a certain ghost dressed in brown gar- 
ments with two tassels at the side. One evening Mr. 
and Mrs. Z. with a few friends tried table-turning, and 
W. L. entering the room in which they were sitting 
again saw the same ghost. "The spirit communicating 
through the table then promised to appear at 11 p. m. 
one evening in the drawing-room, and W. L. was re- 
quested to be present. The gas was turned low and the 
drawing-room door left open. As the clock struck 11, 
'it' walked slowly in." The dress was the same as seen 
by W. L. before, apparently of Japanese flowered silk. 
"The face was haggard-looking, with a long thin nose; 
the hair fair and hanging over the shoulders." When 
the gas was turned on the phantom disappeared. Later 
it indicated to W. L. a spot in the cellar where a treasure 
was hidden. Investigation failed, however, to reveal 
the treasure. Among the seven persons present only 
three saw the figure which appeared at the seances on 
four separate occasions. 1 

Individual apparitions are sometimes seen by 
mediums, both physical and psychical. This was often 
the case with Moses, and we have already related how in 
connection with the production of "fairy bells" he saw 
the spirit "Grocyn making the sounds; he stood point- 
ing at the table, and as he pointed the sound was made." 
He also saw the spirit of Louis Napoleon Bonaparte, 
who benevolently produced his autograph with pencil 
and paper. 

1 Podmore, "Studies, etc.," pp. 314-315. 



Psychical Phenomena 93 

Mrs. Thompson, 1 the famous psychic, frequently 
sees spirits standing in the room, who sometimes, though 
not always, indicate their identity. At times these 
figures form life-size scenes. Thus, on a certain oc- 
casion, a glove-fight witnessed by Frederic Myers' 
son at Eaton was partially reproduced by figures ap- 
pearing behind him. 



2. Automatic speaking and writing constitute by 
far the most important and interesting of the psychical 
phenomena. Both usually occur in trance, in which 
state apparently other personalities than the normal 
waking medium control his body and use his organs of 
speech or employ his hand for writing, thereby showing 
knowledge of facts which the medium could not have 
obtained by ordinary means. The phenomena in ques- 
tion are of the utmost importance not only as being the 
chief means of alleged communication with the de- 
parted, but, above all, as constituting the channels 
through which the spiritistic revelation is given to the 
world. 

W. Stainton-Moses while in trance would deliver 
spoken messages purporting to come from spirits. 
These were taken down usually by Dr. Spear, who al- 
most constantly was present at his seances. His auto- 
matic writing for the most part took place in the wak- 
ing state, and for a description we shall refer to the fol- 
lowing quotation from his "Spirit Teachings:" 2 

"Automatic writing is a well-known method of com- 
munication with the invisible world of what we loosely 
call spirit. I use that word as the most intelligible to 
my readers, though I am well aware that I shall be 
told that I ought not to apply any such term to many 
of the' unseen beings who communicate with earth, of 

*F. W. H. Myers in Proceedings, 8. P. R., xvii:70. 
3 See Preface to that work. 



94 Psychical Phenomena 

whom we hear much and often as being the reliquiae of 
humanity, the shells of what were once men. It is no 
part of my business to enter into this ghost question. 
My interlocutors call themselves spirits, perhaps be- 
cause I so call them, and spirits they are to me for my 
present purposes." 

He then goes on to tell how messages began to be 
written a year after his introduction to Spiritism, and 
how automatic writing has great advantages over other 
forms of messages, as being quicker and leaving a per- 
manent record. He procured a pocket book which, for 
this purpose, he always carried with him. He con- 
tinues : 

"I soon found that writing flowed more easily when 
I used a book that was permeated with the psychic aura ; 
just as raps were more easily heard on a table that has 
been frequently used for the purpose, and as phenomena 
occur most readily in the medium's own room." 

"At first the writing was very small and irregular, 
and it was necessary for me to write slowly and 
cautiously, and to watch the hand, following the lines 

with my eye In a short time, however, I 

found that I could dispense with these precautions. The 
writing, while becoming more and more minute, became 
at the same time very regular and beautifully formed. 
. . . . The answers to my questions (written at the 
top of the page) were paragraphed and arranged as if 
for the press, and the name of God was always written 
in capitals and slowly, and, as it seemed, reverentially. 
The subject matter was always of a pure and elevated 
character, much of it being of personal application, in- 
tended for my own guidance and direction. I may say 
that throughout the whole of these written communica- 
tions there is no flippant message, no at- 
tempt at jest, no vulgarity or incongruity, no false or 
misleading statement, so far as I know or could dis- 
cover; nothing incompatible with the avowed object, 



Psychical Phenomena 95 

again and again repeated, of instruction, enlightenment, 
and guidance by spirits fitted for the task." 

The various controlling spirits showed their indi- 
viduality in handwriting as well as in literary style. 
Moses says, "I could tell at once who was writing by the 
mere characteristics of the caligraphy." When spirits 
appeared who were unable to produce script they em- 
ployed "Rector" as an intermediary. 

"The circumstances under which the messages were 
written were infinitely varied. As a rule it was neces- 
sary that I should be isolated, and the more passive my 
mind the more easy the communications. But I have 
received messages under all sorts of conditions." .... 

"It is an interesting subject for speculation, whether 
my own thoughts entered into the subject matter of 
the communications. I took extraordinary pains to 
prevent any such admixture. At first the writing was 
slow, and it was necessary for me to follow it with my 
eye, but even then the thoughts were not my thoughts. 
Very soon the messages assumed a character of which I 
had no doubt whatever that the thought was opposed to 
my own. But I cultivated the power of occupying my 
mind with other things during the time that the writ- 
ing was going on, and was able to read an abstruse 
book, and follow out a line of close reasoning while the 
message was written with unbroken regularity. Mes- 
sages so written extended over many pages, and in their 
course there is no correction, no fault in composition, 
and often a sustained vigor and beauty of style." 

The mass of ideas contained in the writing not only 
conveyed opinions opposed to those of Mr. Moses, but 
clear and definite information regarding things un- 
known to him. He could not command the writing, but 
had to follow impulses. "Where the messages were in 
regular course," he writes, "I was accustomed to devote 
the first hour of each day to sitting for their reception. 
I rose early, and the beginning of the day was spent, 



96 Psychical Phenomena 

in a room that I used for no other purpose, in what was 
to all intents and purposes a religious service. These 
writings frequently came then, but I could by no means 
reckon upon them." 

The following is an account of "Rector' ' quoting 
from a book unknown to Mr. Moses : * 

Q. Can you read? 

A. "No, friend, I can not, but Zachary Gray can, 
and Rector. I am not able to materialize myself, or to 
command the elements." 

Q. Are either of those spirits here? 

A. "I will bring one by and by. I will send .... 
Rector is here." 

Q. I am told you can read. Is that so? Can you 
read a book? 

A. (Spirit handwriting changed.) "Yes, friend, 
with difficulty." 

Q. Will you write for me the last line of the first 
book of theiEneid? 

A. "Wait — Omnibus errantem terris et fluctibus 
aestas." (This was right.) 

Q. Quite so. But I might have known it. Can you 
go to the book case, take the last book but one on the 
second shelf, and read me the last paragraph of the 
ninety- fourth page ? I have not seen it and do not even 
know its name. 

A. "I will curtly prove by a short historical narra- 
tive, that Popery is a novelty and has gradually arisen 
or grown up since the primitive and pure time of Chris- 
tianity, not only since the apostolic age, but even since 
the lamentable union of kirk and state by Constantine." 

(The book on examination proved to be a queer one 
called "Roger's Antipopopriestian, an attempt to 
liberate and purify Christianity from Popery, Politi- 

1 Proceedings, 8. P. R., xi: 106-107. 



Psychical Phenomena 97 

kirkality, and Priest rule." The extract given above 
was accurate, except that the word "narrative" was sub- 
stituted for "account.") 

Q. How came I to pitch upon so appropriate a 
sentence? 

A. "I know not, my friend. It was by coincidence. 
The word was changed by error. I knew it when it 
was done, but would not change." 

Q. How do you read? You wrote more slowly, 
and by fits and starts. 

A. "I wrote what I remembered, and then I went 
for more. It is a special effort to read, and useful only 
as a test. Your friend was right last night; we can 
read, but only when conditions are very good. We will 
read once again, and write and then impress you of the 
book: — 'Pope is the last great writer of that school of 
poetry, the poetry of the intellect, or rather of the in- 
tellect mingled with fancy.' That is truly written. Go 
and take the eleventh book on the same shelf. (I took 
a book called "Poetry, Romance, and Rhetoric") It 
will open at the page for you. Take it and read, and 
recognize our power, and the permission which the great 
and good God gives us, to show you of our power over 
matter. To Him be glory. Amen." 

(The book opened at page 145, and there was the 
quotation perfectly true. I had not seen the book be- 
fore; certainly had no idea of its contents.) 



It is to be remembered that Rector often constitutes 
the intermediary through whom other spirits purport to 
communicate. Mr. Moses was satisfied with the identity 
of many of these spirits, proof of which he sets forth in 
his "Spirit Identity" published in 1879. 1 Out of the 
great mass of script we quote the following case which 

1 See Proceedings, 8. P. R., xi : 69 et seq. 



98 Psychical Phenomena 

was described by Mr. Moses to Edmund Gurney and 
Frederic Myers, while it was still fresh, on their first 
meeting with him in 1874. 1 

"On the evening of April 8th, 1874, while at Bedford 
with his father and mother, Mr. Moses, who had been 
receiving messages about ancient religions during the 

day, began to ask a question. 'I should 1 ,' when 

a meaningless drawing was made in place of intended 
words." 

Q. What is all that? And why was I stopped? 

A. "A spirit wishes to communicate, and we are 
commanded to permit her. She is not able to write with 
ease, but will communicate through us. Her name is 
Fanny Westoby. Do you know the name?" 

Q. I do not remember. 

A. "Your mother knows her well. She is a cousin 
of hers. She passed from your earth May 15th last." 

Q. Was she married? 

A. "Yes, her maiden name was Kirkham." 

Q. Fanny Kirkham. Yes, I have a dim remem- 
brance. She used to live at Markby. 

A. "She says that she was born in Alford, in the 
house now occupied by Sam Stevenson. She then lived 
at Markby, and, having married, at Belchford. She 
passed away at Horncastle, at 63 years of age. You do 
not remember her, when, in the year 1845, you went to 
see her at Markby. Her mother, Elizabeth Kirkham, 
was then just released from a lingering illness, and your 
mother had gone to condole with her cousin. You were 
taken round the farm, and rode on a goat (she is 
anxious on this point), and she threw you in sport into 
a heap of wheat which was being threshed. The result 
was that you were severely bitten by the harvest bug. 
She is very anxious that you should recall this to your 
mother." 



^ook VIII, pp. 78-83; cfr. Myers, "Human Personality'* vol. II, pp. 
599-600. 



Psychical Phenomena 99 

Q. I will. But is it wise? 

A. "You will not be able to induce her to search 
into this matter, but you may satisfy yourself that 
what is said is true." 

Q. Has she any message? 

A. "She says, 'I lost much of my opportunity for 
progress through the gratification of bodily appetite, 
which cast me back. My course of progress is yet to 
come. I find my present life not very different from 
yours. I am nearly the same. I wish I could influence 
Mary, but I can't get near her.' " 

Q. Can she assure me that she is F. W.? 

A. "She can give you no further evidence. Stay, 
ask your father about Donnington and the trap-door." 

Q. I have not the least idea what she means. All 
the better. I will ask. Any more? Is she happy? 

A. "She is as happy as may be in her present state." 

Q. How did she find me out? 

A. "She came by chance, hovering near her friend 
(L e.j Mrs. Moses), and discovered that she could com- 
municate. She will return now." 

Q. Can I help her? 

A. "Yes, pray. She and all of us are helped when 
you devote your talents willingly to aid us." 

Q. What do you mean? 

A. "In advocating and advancing our mission with 
care and judgment. Then we are permeated with joy. 
May the Supreme bless you." "+Rector." 

The exact particulars of the communication as re- 
lating to Fanny Westoby and the trap-door were veri- 
fied by Mr. and Mrs. Moses, and her death was also 
verified in the Register of Deaths. 

A rather striking message received by Mr. Moses is 
related by Frederic Myers 1 whose knowledge of the 

1 "Human Personality," vol. II, pp. 230-234, and Proceedings, 8. P. B., 
xi:96 et seq. 



100 Psychical Phenomena 

soi-disant communicator and of incidents in the case 
renders it the more interesting. At the death of Mr. 
Moses one of his MS. books marked "Private Matter" 
was placed in Myers' hands. The pages were gummed 
down and when opening them he found a brief piece 
of writing entirely characteristic of a certain person of 
his former acquaintance whom he designated as 'Lady 
Abercromby,' and who had died some twenty-five years 
previously. This note was found to form the conclusion 
of a series of writings signed by Mentor and Rector and 
beginning with some obscure drawings, apparently 
representing the flight of a bird. The communication 
began in answer to a written question as to the meaning 
of the drawings: 

A. "It is a spirit who has but just quitted the body. 
Blanche Abercromby in the flesh. I have brought her. 
No more. M." 

No further reply was given. There was a note indi- 
cating that the message had been received on a certain 
Sunday night about midnight. On the following Mon- 
day morning the message was continued : 

Q. I wish for information about last night. Is that 
true? Was it Mentor? 

A. "Yes, good friend, it was Mentor, who took pity 
on a spirit that was desirous to reverse former errors. 
She desires us to say so. She was ever an inquiring 
spirit, and was called suddenly from your earth. She 
will rest anon. One more proof has been now given of 
continuity of existence. Be thankful and meditate with 
prayer. Seek not more now, but cease. We do not 
wish you to ask any questions now. 

+I:S:D:X Rector." 

A week later more script appeared in which the con- 
ditions causing the presence of spirits was discussed. 
This is also signed by Rector. And a few days later the 



Psychical Phenomena 101 

writing which first drew Myers' attention, and which ex- 
hibited the handwriting of 'Lady Abercromby:' 

A. "A spirit who has before communicated will 
write for you herself. She will then leave you, having 
given the evidence that is required." 

"I should much like to speak more with you, but it 
is not permitted. I know but little yet. I have much, 
much to learn. — Blanche Abercromby." 

"It is like my writing as evidence to you." 

First it must be noted that Moses hardly knew the 
lady in question, having met her only at a few seances. 
He could have had no knowledge of her death which oc- 
curred about 200 miles from London in the afternoon 
the same Sunday on which the first script appeared, and 
was announced for the first time in the following Mon- 
day's Times. Her handwriting was clearly recognized 
by Myers, and its identity and that of the script veri- 
fied by her son and others. 

We shall now pass to Mrs. Piper's automatic utter- 
ances and script as being fairly typical of the best pro- 
duction of automatism. She falls into a trance for 
the duration of which she is "controlled" apparently by 
other intelligences than her own normal waking Self, 
and these utilize her bodily organs of speech or employ 
her hand for writing, showing a knowledge which is 
beyond what she could obtain by ordinary means. 
Furthermore, they present themselves as distinct per- 
sonalities purporting to be the spirits of departed hu- 
man beings speaking from their own memory and ex- 
perience or conveying messages from friends of the 
sitters, now departed from earthly life and living in the 
beyond. 

Phinuit, Mrs. Piper's earliest control, exclusively em- 
ployed her voice for his communications. While in con- 
trol he would most vividly exhibit his own personality, 
not only in style of language which was that of a French- 



102 Psychical Phenomena 

man speaking English, but also in voice which was his 
own and not that of the normal Mrs. Piper. The 
trance-utterances, then, distinctly belong to Phinuit — 
be he spirit, secondary personality, or a manifestation of 
Mrs. Piper's subliminal self — and will consequently be 
referred to as his, not the medium's. 

The sitters were usually, in so far as could be as- 
certained, previously unknown to Mrs. Piper, and they 
were never introduced to her by their real names, and 
consequently, at least during first sittings, it would be 
impossible for her to draw on ordinary sources of in- 
formation. The seance would usually take the form of 
a dialogue between Phinuit and the sitter in which he 
would make mention of the latter's relatives and friends, 
and answer questions regarding them. Often he would 
enumerate the various members of the sitter's family, 
give an account of their full name and relationship, 
their character, features, dress, occupation and inci- 
dents in their life. There would be information regard- 
ing the living as well as those departed, in both cases 
given with equal vividness, accuracy and copiousness of 
detail. Phinuit would act as a narrator, and only in 
rare cases would he give place to some one departed, al- 
lowing him or her to speak through his medium. He 
would tell of the present condition of the departed — 
what they now looked like, wherewith they were oc- 
cupied, whether they were happy and so forth. 

At times the statements were perfectly clear, and 
given in a straightforward manner without hesitation, 
and this especially when a letter from or an object which 
liad been in possession of or in contact with the subject 
under discussion was presented to Phinuit, who would 
hold it against his medium's forehead. Some state- 
ments, on the other hand, were rather confused, and 
while making them he would allow himself considerable 
fishing. Again, some statements would be correct even 
in detail, while others in certain details or even as to their 



Psychical Phenomena 103 

whole substance were found quite incorrect and some- 
times unintelligible. 1 

The G. P., or George Pelham, control 2 which intro- 
duced writing in the place of speaking, appeared in 
1892. The person designated by this assumed name 
was a young lawyer well known to Dr. Hodgson, who 
had used to discuss with him questions of philosophy, 
and especially that of the possibility of future life which 
G. P. could not accept. Before his death in 1892, which 
was known by Hodgson a few days after it occurred, 
he had held one single sitting with Mrs. Piper, at which 
he presented himself incognito. She could not very 
well have known him through other ordinary sources. 

Four or five weeks after G. P.'s death John Hart 3 
held sittings with Mrs. Piper in the course of which 
Phinuit exclaimed: "There is another George who 
wants to speak to you — how many Georges are there 
about you anyhow?" The 'other George' purported to 
be G. P., and gave his and John Hart's names correctly, 
and also mentioned the names of persons who had been 
G. P.'s friends in his short earth life. 

One of the pair of studs worn by John Hart was 
given to Phinuit and the following conversation en- 
sued, Phinuit speaking for G. P. : 4 

J. H. "Who gave them to me?" 

G. P. "That's mine. I gave you that part of it. I 
sent that to you." 

J. H. "When?" 

G. P. "Before I came here. That's mine. Mother 
gave you that." 

J. H. "No." 

G. P. "Well, father then. Father and mother to- 
gether. You got those after I passed out. Mother 

1 See Hodgson in Proceedings, 8. P. R., vi:436-650; viii:l-67; xiii:284- 
295; 413-582. 

2 See Hodgson in Proceedings, 8. P. R., xiii: 295-582. 

3 Assumed name. 

4 Proceedings, 8. P. R., xiii: 297. 



104 Psychical Phenomena 

took them. Gave them to father, and father gave them 
to you. I want you to keep them. I will them to you." 

Mr. Hart notes that the studs were sent to him by 
G. P.'s father, and that he afterwards ascertained that 
they had been taken from G. P.'s body by his step- 
mother, who suggested that they should be sent to him. 

James and Mary Howard, two intimate friends of 
G. P., were mentioned with strongly personal specific 
references, and G. P. gave a message to their daughter 
Katherine: "Tell her, she'll know. I will solve the 
problems, Katherine." Later Mr. Hart explained that 
the message at the time was quite meaningless to him, 
but that he subsequently learned from James Howard 
that G. P. frequently had used to talk with Katherine 
on such subjects as Time, Space, God and Eternity, 
pointing out to her how unsatisfactory commonly ac- 
cepted solutions were. 1 

A few weeks after the appearance of G. P., sittings 
were held with the Howards, who were not predisposed 
to take an interest in such matters but had been per- 
suaded by Mr. Hart to give Mrs. Piper a trial. We 
quote from Mr. Howard's notes taken during the first 
sitting on April 11th, 1892, 2 G. P. apparently con- 
trolling the voice directly: 

G. P. "Jim, is that you? Speak to me quick. I am 
not dead. Don't think me dead. I am awfully glad to 
see you. Can't you see me? Don't you hear me? Give 
my love to my father and tell him I want to see him. 
I am happy here, and more so since I find I can com- 
municate with you. I pity those people who can't 

speak I want you to know I think of you 

still. I spoke to John about some letters. I left things 
terribly mixed, my books arid my papers ; you will for- 
give me for this, won't you? . . . ." 

1 Proceedings, 8. P. R., xiii: 297-298. 

2 Ibid., pp. 300 et seq. 



Psychical Phenomena 105 

(What do you do, George, where are you?) 
G. P. "I am scarcely able to do anything yet; I am 
just awakened to the reality of life after death. It was 
like darkness. I could not distinguish anything at first. 
Darkest hour just before dawn, you know that, Jim. I 
was puzzled, confused. Shall have an occupation soon. 
Now I can see you, my friends. I can hear you speak. 
Your voice, Jim, I can distinguish with your accent and 
articulation, but it sounds like a big bass drum. Mine 

would sound to you like the faintest whisper " 

(Were you not surprised to find yourself living?) 
G. P. "Perfectly so. Greatly surprised. I did not 
believe in a future life. It was beyond my reasoning 
powers. Now it is as clear to me as daylight. We have 
an astral fac-simile of the material body .... Jim, 
what are you writing now?" 
(Nothing of any importance.) 
G. P. "Why don't you write about this?" 
(I would like to, but the expression of my opinions 
would be nothing. I must have facts.) 

G. P. "These I will give to you and to Hodgson if 
he is still interested in these things." 

(Will people know about this possibility of com- 
munication?) 

G. P. "They are sure to in the end. It is only a 
question of time when people in the material body will 
know all about it, and every one will be able to com- 
municate I want all the fellows to know about 

me . . . ." 

Here follow references to several friends, to a tin 
box containing letters and so on. Finally G. P. was 
asked two questions : What was the purpose of the as- 
sociation he had formed two years ago with Miss Helen 
Vance and two other ladies, and who were the two 
ladies in question? G. P. appeared confused and gave 
wrong answers. But Phinuit now seemed to have 



106 Psychical Phenomena 

taken control of the voice. As regards references to 
persons, incidents, characters, etc., in the preceding 
dialogue, they were, in so far as could be ascertained, 
correct. 1 

Mr. Howard, although deeply impressed with the 
feeling that he had communicated with the departed 
G. P., remained unconvinced until the eleventh sitting 
held towards the end of December the same year, when 
he asked for some convincing proof in form of some- 
thing known to him and G. P. alone. Mrs. Piper was 
in deep trance, her body inert and lifeless with exception 
of the right hand, which was writing persistently and 
fiercely in answer to Mr. Howard's request. Mr. 
Hodgson, who was taking notes, makes the following 
comment : 2 

"Several statements were read by me, and assented 
to by Mr. Howard, and then was written 'private' and 
the hand gently pushed me away. I retired to the other 
side of the room, and Mr. Howard took my place close 
to the hand where he could read the writing. He did 
not, of course, read it aloud, and it was too private for 
my perusal. The hand, as it reached the end of each 
sheet, tore it off from the block book, and thrust it 
wildly at Mr. Howard, and then continued writing. The 
circumstances narrated, Mr. Howard informed me, 
contained precisely the kind of test for which he had 
asked, and he said that he was 'perfectly satisfied, per- 
fectly.' After this incident there was some further 
conversation with reference to the past that seemed 
specially natural as coming from G. P." 

In order to test G. P.'s power to see things on earth 
some experiments were made among which were the 
following: G. P. was asked to visit Mrs. Howard in 
her home and report what she was doing, it having 
been previously arranged between her and Dr. Hodg-r 

1 Proceedings, 8. P. B., xii:302. 

2 Proceedings, 8. P. B., xiii:322. 



Psychical Phenomena 107 

son that she should do various fantastic things. G. P. 
reported through Phinuit speaking: 1 

"She's writing, and taken some violets and put them 
in a book. And it looks as if she's writing that to my 

mother Who is Tyson .... Davis .... I 

saw her (Mrs. Howard) sitting in the chair. By 
George! I've seen that fellow (the sitter) somewhere 
(touching face) (Why, George, you know me) sitting 
before a little desk or table. Took little book, opened 
it, wrote letter he thinks to his mother. Saw her take a 
little bag and put some things in it belonging to him, 
placed the photograph beside her on the desk. That's 
her. Sent a letter to TASON (Tyson?) TYSON." 
. . . . "She hunted a little while for her picture, 
sketching. He is certain that the letter is to his mother. 
She took one of George's books and turned it over and 
said: 'George, are you here? Do you see that?' These 
were the very words. Then she turned and went up a 
short flight of stairs. Took things from a drawer, came 
back again, sat down to the desk, and then finished the 
letter." 

A statement was sent to Mrs. Howard, who in a letter 
to Dr. Hodgson 2 affirms that she had done none of the 
things on the day of the seance, but all of them during 
the previous day and a half, and that nearly all the de- 
tails of the description were minutely accurate. 

The death of Mr. Edmund Gurney, which occurred 
in 1888, ushered in a new phase in Mrs. Piper's auto- 
matic communications. Shortly after his death mes- 
sages purporting to come from him were received by 
another automatist, and the following year by Mrs. 
Piper. Later the Edmund Gurney control appeared 
in the script of other mediums as did also those of Pro- 
fessor Sidgwick, Mr. Frederic Myers and Dr. 
Hodgson subsequent to their death. 

1 Proceedings, 8. P. B., xiii:305 et seq. 

2 Proceedings, 8. P. B., xiii : 306-307. 



108 Psychical Phenomena 

We shall sufficiently refer to these communications 
in our chapter on Spirit Identity and shall make no 
further mention of them in this place. 



The most interesting development in automatic 
script is found in cross-correspondence, consisting of 
independent references to the same topic occurring at 
about the same time in the script of two or more autom- 
atists sometimes separated by very long distances. 
In the better cases the statements of one automatist are 
no mere reproductions of those of another or others, but 
represent different references to one and the same idea, 
so written that while in themselves they are often quite 
unintelligible, when taken together they are found to 
complement one the other and thus to form a coherent 
and intelligible statement. The different parts of the 
correspondence are sometimes distributed over a con- 
siderable space of time and in separate trances. We 
shall here present two examples which will be discussed 
in a later chapter. 

The "Ave Roma Immortalis" cross-correspondence 
occurred between the 2d and 7th of March, 1916, the 
automatists being Mrs. Verrall and Mrs. Holland. The 
script reads as follows. 1 

Mrs. VerralVs script on March 2d, 1906. 

Non tali auxilio invenies quod velis non tali 

auxilio nee defensoribus istis. 

Keep the two distinct — you do not hear — write 

regularly — give up other things. 

Primus inter pares ipse non nominis immemor. 

Cum eo frater etsi non sanguine animo con- 

sanguineus ii ambo tibi per aliam vocem mittent — 

post aliquot dies bene quod dicam comprehendere 

potes — usque ad illud vale. 

1 Proceedings, 8. P. R., xxi:297 et seq. 



Psychical Phenomena 109 

Mrs. V err all's script on March 4th, 1906. 

Pagan and Pope. The Stoic persecutor and the 

Christian. Gregory not Basil's friend ought to be 

a clue, but you have it not quite right. 

Pagan and Pope and Reformer all enemies as you 

think. 

Crux signiflcationem habet. Crucifer qui olim 

fertur. 

The standard-bearer is the link. 

Mrs. VerralVs script on March 5th, 1906. 

Leonis pelle sumpto claviger in scriptis iam antea 

bene denotatus. Corrigenda sunt quaedam. 

Ask your husband, he knows it well. 

Stant inde columnae relicta Calpe iam finis. 

No you have left out something. Assiduo lectore 

columnae (fractae). 

Mrs. Verrall had recognized the reference to the 
iEneid ("Non tali auxilio" — the vain defence of Troy 
against the Greeks) but the rest had no meaning to her. 
Dr. Verrall, to whom she showed the script on March 
2nd, said that he saw a connection between the two 
Latin passages but did not tell what connection. On 
seeing the script of March 4th he said that the same in- 
tention was conveyed by "Pagan and Pope, etc." 

On March 11th a copy of extracts of Mrs. Holland's 
script of March 7th arrived containing the words "Ave 
Roma Immortalis. How could I make it any clearer 
without giving her the clue?" which Dr. Verrall said ap- 
plied appropriately to the same thing. He then told 
his wife what he considered the script to allude to, being 
Raphael's picture of Attila meeting with Pope Leo. 1 

1 Miss Johnson gives the following description of the picture : 

"The picture is the well-known one in the Stanza d'Eliodoro in the 

Vatican. The Pope sits on a white palfrey, a cross-bearer riding on his 

left and cardinals on his right. Attila on a black horse is in the middle 

of the picture, with a standard-bearer in the background on his right 



110 Psychical Phenomena 

The "Sesame and Lilies" incident introduces the Mac 
family, the five members of which had been practicing 
planchette writing. The reading of Myers' "Human 
Personality" increased their interest in the practice, 
which now gave results in better writing and in new 
controls. In June, 1908, they read Miss Johnson's re- 
port on Mrs. Holland's script, 1 and on July 19th a 
"Sidgwick" control appeared in their script. Mrs. 
Verrall's name also appeared. On September 23d they 
made themselves known in a letter to Mrs. Verrall. In 
this letter the following script, which occurred on July 
27th, 1908, was inclosed: 2 

"Sidgwick. News from the Orient (Drawing of 
rose) Roses — dew-kissed — R. S. 
Sidgwick. Sesame and lilies — lotus the flower of 
repentance. 

Sidgwick. Vanity of vanities, all is vanity. A 
little love and then the joy fades and the rose is 
crumpled and wither (s) up — fane. 

(Automatists ask, 'What is that?') 
French ('fane'). Bleeding hearts can not be 
staunched and the voice of death echoes through the 
brain with palling monotony — Sidgwick. Hollow 
and mortal vain is life without a meaning." 

This script, all from the Sidgwick control, has refer- 
ence to four topics, each forming the subject of cross- 
correspondence with other automatists, viz.: 3 

1. "News from the Orient" refers to cross-corre- 
spondence between Mrs. Piper, Mrs. Holland and Mrs. 
Verrall under title "Light in the West." 

and a group of mounted Huns beyond. St. Peter and St. Paul are de- 
scending from the sky, both bearing swords, and St. Peter also holding a 
large key or keys in his left hand. In the background is seen the city 
of Rome, with the Coliseum and aqueducts." (Op. cit., p. 229.) 

1 Proceedings, 8. P. R., xxi:266 et seq. 

2 Ibid., p. 269. 

3 Ibid. 



Psychical Phenomena 111 

2. "Sesame and Lilies" refers to Miss Verrall's 
script of March 17th, 1907, and to that of Miss Verrall 
between July 20th and September 1st, 1908. 

3. "Vanity of vanities" refers to Miss Verrall's 
script beginning June 1st, 1908. 

4. "Bleeding hearts," etc., refers to Miss Verrall's 
script of March 16th, 1908, a stanza from one of Victor 
Hugo's poems. 

A description of the whole script in its connections 
would here be too lengthy and we shall confine our- 
selves to the "Sesame and Lilies" incident. We shall 
mention the scripts in chronological order. 

A. Miss VerralVs script of March 17th, 1908} 
"Alexander's tomb quinque et viginti annos post 

urbem conditam 

with fire and sword to purge the altar not 

without grief laurel leaves are emblem 

laurel for the victor's brow 

Say not the struggle nought availeth 

Sesame and lilies arum lilies 

When the darkness on the quiet land 

Scarlet tulips all in a row." 

The words "laurel" and "wreath" occur in Mrs. Ver- 
rall's script of February 6th, 1907. 2 Analyzing Miss 
Verrall's script we find : 

1. Laurel leaves and laurel wreath. 

2. Clough's poem, "Say not the struggle nought 
availeth." 

3. Sesame and Lilies. 

B. Miss Macs script July 19th, 1908? 
"Where is the little blue vase with the lilies that 

grow by Sharon's dewy rose .... 
Search the Scriptures, and the dust shall be con- 
verted into fine gold." 



1 Proceedings, 8. P. R., xxii:99. 

2 Ibid., pp. 97-98. 

5 Proceedings, 8. P. R., xxiv:273. 



112 Psychical Phenomena 

C. Mrs. VerralVs script July 20th, 1908} contains 
reference to the Clough poem. 

D. Miss Mac's script July 26th, 1908? 

"A blue book bound in blue leather with ended paper 
and gold tooling." 

E. Miss Mac's script July 27th, 1908? 
"Sidgwick. Sesame and lilies — lotus the flower of 

repentance." 

F. Miss Mac's script July 29th, 1908? 

The "Evans" control says that Mr. Sidgwick is 
anxious to get a message through the automatists 
to Mrs. Verrall and was trying to do it now. 

G. Miss VerralVs script August 12th, 1908? 
"praeterita rediviva 

O mors, O labies 

Araby the perfumes of Araby 



H. Mrs. VerralVs script August 19th, 1908? 
"Let your hand go loose — let the words come. 
It is a literary allusion that should come to-day. 
Think of the words 

Liliastrum Paradise — Liliago — no not that. 
Lilies of Eden — Lilith no 
Eve's lilies 

all in a garden fair. Try again. 
Lilies swaying in a wind 
Under a garden wall 
Lilies for the bees to find 
Lilies fair and tall. 
Then besides the Lilies there is to be another word 
for you and for her Lilies and a different word — 

1 Proceedings, 8. P. R., xxiv:268. 

2 Ibid., p. 273. 
8 Ibid., p. 269. 
4 Ibid., p. 270. 

6 Ibid., p. 313. Mrs. Verrall saw this script Sept. 1, 1908. 
"Ibid. Miss Verrall saw this script on Sept. 1, 1908. 



Psychical Phenomena 113 

So that lilies is the catchword to show what words 

are to be put together. 

And your second word is gold. 

think of the golden lilies of France. 

You will have to wait some time for the end of this 

story, for the solution of this puzzle — but I think 

there is no doubt of its ultimate success. 
Yours." 
I. Miss VerralVs script August 19th, 1908} 

"Blue and gold were the colours golden stars on a 

blue ground like a night sky — the brimming goblet 

the eagles prey cupbearer to Zeus himself, but it 

availed him nothing when the peril came . . . ." 
J. Miss VerralVs script August 22&, 1908. 2 

"Unto this last that was the message to be given. 

The cross and sceptre the double symbol temporal 

and spiritual but the cross was first. 

Who said 'I will go before that ye may see the 

track.' 

It was in the cemetery where the lilies grow — a 

view over the hills — blue hills — in love with death. 

Note that the words are a clue. 

But you have no but you have not yet written the 

most important of all. But do not hurry or guess 

let it come of itself. Is not there a change this time? 

You should consider what it was that made you 

feel what no (drawing of lyre without strings). 

An oriel window beautifully traced the Western 

light shines through. 

F. W. H. M." 
K. Miss Mac's script, September, 1908. 

1st — Script of July to be sent to Mrs. Verrall. 

13th — Above repeated. 

18th — Script to be sent by September 26th. 

*Op. cit., p. 314. Mrs. Verrall saw this script on Sept. 1, 1908. 
2 Ibid. Mrs. Verrall saw this script on Sept. 1, 1908. 



114 Psychical Phenomena 

If we begin with E we read "Sesame and Lilies," 
which is the title of one of Ruskin's books, originating 
in two lectures given in Manchester in 1864. The lec- 
tures were called "Sesame: of Kings' Treasuries' , and 
"Lilies: of Queens' Gardens." In the first edition each 
lecture has a Greek motto, Sesame having prefixed Job 

xxviii :5-6 ("Out of it cometh bread and 

. . . . dust of gold"), and Lilies Canticles ii:2 ("As the 
Lily among thorns, so is my love . . . ."). This edition 
was bound in brown cloth. Later editions, bound in 
blue and gold, had other mottoes. The B script may 
well be considered to refer to the mottoes in the first 
edition and the D script evidently refers to the later 
editions bound in blue leather and gold. We have, then, 
in Miss Mac's script an allusion to Ruskin's "Sesame 
and Lilies." 

If we now turn to Mrs. Verrall's script, H refers to 
a literary allusion "which is to come to-day." Then 
"lilies" is referred to as the catchword which of course 
indicates cross-correspondence, and would connect with 
Miss Mac's script B and E. "Lilies" is to be the first 
word in the answer, the second is gold — which fits in 
with "Sesame: of Kings' Treasuries." We shall not en- 
large upon the various connections to be found between 
the two scripts. But if H is understood to refer to 
"Sesame and Lilies," the rest of the answer becomes 
clear. In G Miss Verrall writes "praeterita rediviva." 
Praeterita is the name of another of Ruskin's books, as 
is also Unto this Last, which occurs in her script in 
J. In his preface to the edition of 1882 Ruskin says 
of Sesame and Lilies that "if read in connection with 
Unto this Last, it contains the chief truths I have en- 
deavored through all my past life to display." This 
somewhat chimes in with praeterita rediviva! 



Psychical Phenomena 115 

3. Crystal gazing is by no means proper to 
Spiritism. It is an ancient art which has been found 
among the customs of Assyria, Persia, Egypt, Greece, 
Rome, China, Japan and India, North American 
Indians, African tribes and the Incas, and is still in 
vogue among the Shamans of Siberia and Eastern 
Russia, the Polynesians, Australian savages, and so on. 
It received perhaps its highest development under di- 
rection of Doctor John Dee of the Elizabethan period, 
whose "shew-stone" has been preserved in the British 
Museum, and of whom Hudibras says : 1 
"I've read Dee's prefaces before, 
The Devil and Euclid o'er and o'er, 
And all the intrigues 'twixt him and Kelly, 
Lescus and the Emperor would tell ye, 
Kelly did all his feats upon 
The Devil's looking-glass, a stone; 
Where playing with him at Bo Peep 
He solved all problems ne'er so deep." 

His "scyrer," Kelly, not only could see spirits in the 
stone, but also hear them talk, and he often kept long 
conversations with them. Sometimes writing was seen 
in place of spirits. Since his time the practice of 
crystal gazing has been carried on in England and else- 
where and has simply been adopted by the Spiritists. 2 

The practice consists in looking fixedly into a crystal 
enveloped in a dark cloth or otherwise so arranged that 
it will return the least possible reflection. Instead of a 
crystal, a vessel containing clear water or some other 
clear liquid, a steel mirror, water in springs, etc., can be 
used. It is necessary that there should be nothing to 
distract the "scyrer," and consequently solitude and 
mental passivity are to be strongly recommended. A 

*Part II, canto 3. 

2 See Andrew Lang, "The Making of Religion," pp. 90 et seq., and 
"Recent Experiments in Crystal Vision" by anonymous lady in Pro- 
ceedings, 8. P. R., v: 490-504. 



116 Psychical Phenomena 

surface reflecting the images of surrounding objects 
would not fulfill this requirement, and it is for this rea- 
son that the crystal should be enveloped in black cloth 
or otherwise protected. 

In gazing into the crystal the "scyrer" must avoid 
fatigue no less than distraction. After the lapse often 
of about ten minutes a clouding is seen in the crystal, 
which will dissolve and give room for some figure. At 
times several figures and scenes will appear dramatically 
representing events. Again script will take the place of 
figures and scenes. 

Mrs. Verrall in describing crystal visions says 1 that 
they are unlike all other visual impressions which she 
has received, mentioning mental pictures, faces in the 
fire, shapes in the clouds and spontaneous impressions 
of persons or scenes. The difference between a picture 
in the crystal and a mental picture is quite marked but 
difficult to describe. She states: "I believe that with 
me the crystal picture is built up from the bright points 
in the crystal, as they sometimes enter into it; but the 
picture, when once produced, has a reality which I have 
never been able to obtain when looking into the fire or 
trying to call up an imaginary scene with my eyes shut." 
Her visions include animals, human figures, common ob- 
jects, geometrical figures, written words, scenes and 
fanciful groups or scenes. 

Movement occurs not infrequently in the pictures, 
and so does change. By movement she means altera- 
tion within the same picture, whereas change signifies 
that the whole picture undergoes alteration and is suc- 
ceeded by another. She adduces the following two ex- 
amples of movement and change respectively: 

"Landscape, large piece of still water in evening 
light, beyond it mountains and hills, two snowy peaks, 
one. sharply defined dark hill in front — open space on 

1 Proceedings 8. P. R., viii:473. 



Psychical Phenomena 117 

right of mountains. Steamer passing from right to 
left till it touched shore and was lost to sight." 

"I saw nothing for some time. Then a flower like a 
convolvulus, which I knew to be pink though I saw no 
color, first sideways, then facing with a hard round 
knob in the middle. Then I knew it was not pink, but 
metal. I knew this from the hardness of outline, not the 
color. It kept changing from one position to the 
other." 1 

Sometimes the picture undergoes development in 
that things which first appear dim and confused become 
clear and distinct. 

The pictures shown in the crystal in a large number 
of cases do not even suggest spirit intervention. They 
are plainly after-images and memories recrudescent or 
unconsciously in the mind of the percipient. But there 
are visions of another kind, which imply acquisition of 
knowledge by other than generally accepted normal 
means. These visions are often premonitory or they 
represent events occurring at a distance and not at the 
time known by the recipient, or past events of which 
he or she is normally ignorant. The figure of a man, 
his features muffled, is seen crouching at a certain small 
window and looking into the room from the outside. 
One is led to believe that some account of burglary has 
conjured this vision in the imagination of the recipient. 
But three days later a fire breaks out in the same room, 
which has to be entered from the outside through the 
window, the fireman protecting his face against the 
flames with a wet towel. 2 Or, a small bunch of daffo- 
dils presents itself in various positions on a certain 
Monday evening, and a few days later the "scyrer" re- 
ceives from an artist friend a "Valentine" with a bunch 
of daffodils, corresponding exactly to the picture in the 

1 Proceedings, 8. P. R., v:474. 
-Proceedings, S. P. R., v: 517-518. 



118 Psychical Phenomena 

crystal, and learns that the sender employed some hours 
on the preceding Monday in making studies of the 
flowers in various positions. 1 

Occasionally, however, the crystal vision corresponds 
poorly to the actual object to which it refers, which was 
the case when the "scyrer" described the person of 
Queen Victoria as "wearing black trousers and shoes, 
a white hat, red coat, black waistcoat, having whiskers, 
and presenting a glass tumbler." 2 



1 Proceedings, 8. P. R., v:516. 

2 Ibid., v:514. See further Proceedings, S. P. R., v: 486-521, viii:473- 
492; x:108, 136; xv: 48-50; 385; Myers, "Human Personality," varia loca, 
etc. 



CHAPTER V. 

Genuine and Spurious Phenomena. 

Turning from the phenomena themselves as they have 
been observed and are found described in the sources 
upon which we have drawn, we now approach the task 
of accounting for their origin. The problem thus offer- 
ing itself has for a long time demanded the attention of 
men identified with Psychical Research, but so far has 
found no complete or definite solution, so that at present 
the subject has not advanced beyond the stage of more 
or less plausible theories. 

In dealing with Spiritism from the point of view of 
Religion we should necessarily be supremely concerned 
with the question whether or not the claim to preter- 
natural causation of the phenomena, put forth by the 
defenders of Spiritism, can be substantiated. And evi- 
dently we can reach a decision on that point only by 
exhausting the possibility of natural causation. 

The enormous difficulty which such task involves will 
be appreciated when we consider the divergence of con- 
clusions — or rather the inconclusive results — which are 
the fruits of the strenuous and patient labors of over 
sixty years of scientific investigation. With such facts 
before us, and realizing on the one hand the vast im- 
portance of the subject, and on the other its bizarre and 
evasive nature, we can not dare to hope for summary 
and definite conclusions, nor must we treat the subject 
in a dogmatic manner. And since it would be entirely 
beyond the scope of the present treatise to undertake 
anything approaching a searching investigation, we 
shall here merely in a general way refer to the results 
already obtained and give a short outline of the process 
by which we think the question might possibly become 
more definitely settled in the future. 



120 Genuine and Spurious Phenomena 

To begin with the physical phenomena, there are two 
main hypotheses of natural causation to be considered. 
For the phenomena as a whole may either be spurious, 
that is to say surreptitiously produced by mechanical 
means, or owe their merely subjective existence to 
psychological aberrations in the mind of the observer; 
or they may be genuine, i. e., of an objective nature 
true to their appearance, in which they would have to 
be ascribed to some hitherto unknown force or forces in 
nature. If either can be shown to offer adequate ex- 
planation the ground will be cut from under the spirit- 
istic claim. 

We readily admit that nature is far from having been 
fully explored and that doubtless she may harbour 
powers of which at present we are not cognizant. The 
thought that such a force or such forces would have 
been brought to display in phenomena which are new 
and puzzling has long been in the minds of men. 
Mesmer ascribed his phenomena to Animal Magnetism, 
Petetin referred them to Animal Electricity, and both 
Count de Gasparin and Sir William Crookes sought 
the operation of an unknown natural force behind the 
phenomena of Spiritism. 

Baron von Reichenbach thought that he had dis- 
covered a force, which he named Od, and which 
emanated with a luminous effect from magnets, crys- 
tals, human bodies and other substances. But so far as 
his experiments are concerned, it was never proven that 
the luminous emanations had more than a subjective 
reality in the mind or imagination of the observers. On 
the other hand, more recent observations and experi- 
ments have proved that psychical emotions cause elec- 
trical variations in our system, and radiations from the 
body similar in effect to cathodic rays have been 
registered upon photographic plates. 1 It seems certain 

1 See Boirac, "Our Hidden Forces," pp. 249-259 ; Tromelin, "Le Fluide 
Humain" ; Imoda in "Annals of Psychical Science," Aug.-Sept. 1908; and 
Baraduc, "L'Iconographie en Anses." 



Genuine and Spurious Phenomena 121 

that these radiations follow variations and changes in 
our system. As a rule they are not visible to the normal 
eye, but can be seen by clairvoyants and psychics de- 
pending, no doubt, upon the supernormally increased 
sensitivity of their senses. Other minute effects, which 
would be easily explained by bodily electricity or even 
heat, have been registered upon a very sensitive appa- 
ratus, while attempts to test the odic fluid, or whatever 
we might choose to call the emanations from the body, 
upon sensitive scales have been in vain. 1 

The physical phenomena of Spiritism postulate not 
only a force exerting attraction and repulsion. Such 
action would account but for a minority of the 
phenomena, whereas a great many of them, such as 
sounds, impressions, passing of matter through matter, 
raps, touches and blows, production of substances and 
objects, elongation, the fire-test, and, above all, ma- 
terialization, would not find their explanation in any 
force analogous in its operation to presently known 
forces of nature. A force, which at the will of pref- 
erably an uneducated peasant woman, or a young girl 
with no experience in physics — or in so far as the marvel 
is concerned, at the will of anybody — will not only lift 
tables, play musical instruments, produce faces in clay 
and reproduce the texture of the medium's skin in 
lamp-smoke, but also create shadowy hands and figures, 
life-like phantoms with all the properties of living hu- 
man beings, dressed and trimmed in female costume, or 
awe-inspiring in pickelhaube and bedsheet — which ob- 
jects, by the way, also have to be produced — and again 
reduce all this tangible matter to the ether or nothing- 
ness whence it issued — such a versatile force is a strange 
one indeed — in itself a stranger phenomenon than those 
of Spiritism. 

1 See Flournoy's and E. Dermole's experiments in the former's 
"Spiritism and Psychology" p. 296. 



122 Genuine and Spurious Phenomena 

It would be an obvious weakness to refer to many 
forces with different operations, especially since ma- 
terialization and dematerialization, if at all possible, 
would explain the majority of the phenomena as being 
the work of the materialized being. But materializa- 
tion, to which subject we shall have occasion to return, 
offers — at least apart from the spiritistic hypothesis — 
what seem to be insuperable difficulties of acceptance. 

If a new force has been found operative in the 
phenomena of Spiritism, let us have proof of its ex- 
istence other than seventy years of notoriously fraudu- 
lent mediumship. The kind of proof we look for has 
well been stated by Sir William Crookes who writes: 1 
"The spiritualist tells of flowers with the fresh dew on 
them, of fruit, and living objects being carried through 
closed windows, and even solid brick- walls. The 
scientific investigator naturally asks that an additional 
weight (if it be only the thousandth part of a grain) be 
deposited on one pan of his balance when the case is 
locked. And the chemist asks for the one-thousandth of 
a grain of arsenic to be carried through the sides of a 
glass tube in which pure water is hermetically sealed." 
Till such proofs are forthcoming we need not appeal 
from Spiritism to unknown forces in nature. 

As a matter of fact, the phenomena when studied in 
their ensemble at seances to our mind offer little en- 
couragement to the prospective discoverer of a new 
force. With few exceptions they are such as could be 
performed by a human being, most frequently with the 
agency of one or two hands. The mediums usually re- 
fer to them as done by spirits possessing the properties 
of a living being — it is the spirit that dips its face in the 
wet clay, that lifts the table, administers the blows, makes 
the raps, carries the objects, the lights, etc., and pro- 
duces the sounds. Eusapia, when levitated, could feel 



'Researches, etc.," p. 6. 



Genuine and Spurious Phenomena 123 

pressure as of a hand under the pit of her arm, and her 
sitters, when molested by the spirits, could feel the out- 
line of a hand which gave the blows, or of the fingers 
which pinched them. During her seances there was 
mention of a third hand, a kind of materialized spirit 
hand, executing the various movements, etc. If to these 
facts we add the frequently occurring materializations 
of hands, and also those of busts and whole figures, we 
come to the conclusion that at least the great majority 
of the phenomena are not produced by a simple natural 
force, but by a being, acting as would a living human 
being. 

Upon this conclusion, apart from the spiritistic 
hypothesis, two claims may be based. The defenders 
of materialization as a natural process, whereby the 
etheric double or body of the medium will escape from 
the material body and manifest itself, see in the phe- 
nomena the activity of the thus externalized and ma- 
terialized double. On the other hand more skeptically 
inclined people are ready to assert that the whole marvel 
is the result of trickery and prestidigitation on the part 
of the medium. Leaving the question of materialization 
for later discussion we shall now see how far the hypoth- 
esis of fraudulent production will lead. 



No serious investigator, particularly of the physical 
phenomena of Spiritism, will deny that fraud plays an 
important part in their production, that, in fact, dis- 
honesty among mediums generally speaking is so com- 
monly found as to justify an a priori attitude of 
skepticism, if nothing worse, towards spiritistic per- 
formances. While it would not be in harmony with 
principles of scientific research to reject the whole mat- 
ter on prima facie evidence or on a priori judgment, 
nevertheless we feel that the weight of this evidence is 
such that we are justified in refusing to accept the phe- 



124 Genuine and Spurious Phenomena 

nomena as genuine until proofs to that end have been 
forthcoming. The grounds for our attitude may be 
briefly summarized as follows : 1 

Beginning with the phenomena themselves it must be 
admitted that a priori they are very improbable, al- 
though not in the same degree, for while raps and tele- 
kinetic phenomena might be placed side by side with 
already accepted physical effects, materialization and 
passing of matter through matter would reverse our 
whole conception of the laws of nature. 

Of course, this point does not disprove the possibility 
of the physical phenomena of Spiritism, for, however 
firmly our conception of the laws of nature may be es- 
tablished, yet it is not unthinkable that some future 
discovery might bring about a readjustment. But, at 
least in so far as the fundamental laws of nature are 
concerned, this seems exceedingly improbable. And 
consequently we feel justified on these grounds in in- 
creasing our demands upon the evidence adduced in 
favor of the spiritistic phenomena. 2 

Passing from the phenomena to the conditions sur- 
rounding their occurrence we find that the arrangements 
in the seance-room are highly favorable to fraudulent 
productions. The darkness or semi-darkness of the 
seance-room will to a large extent prevent detection of 
trickery, and facilitate the introduction of apparatus for 
producing effects such as "spirit-lights," luminous 
bodies, showers of fluid, and the like. This is empha- 
sized by the employment of a cabinet with a curtain be- 
hind which the medium may operate without much risk 
of being detected. 

1 We follow in part the general outline of Count Perovsky-Petrovo- 
Solovovo's a priori argument as found in "Les Phenomenes physique du 
Spiritism: quelques difficultees." In Proceedings, 8. P. R., xxv:413 et 
seq. 

2 Count Petrovo (Op. cit., p. 414) quotes the principle: "Plus un fait 
est en soi improbable, plus nous sommes authorises a nous montrer diffi- 
ciles en fait de preuve." 



Genuine and Spurious Phenomena 125 

The conditions enjoined upon the sitters such as hold- 
ing of hands, remaining in a certain place, thinking of a 
certain thing or observing a certain point, etc., are cal- 
culated to act as an effective check upon investigation. 
The playing of musical instruments, and singing and 
talking during the seances — a thing frequently en- 
couraged by mediums — would serve both to drown the 
sound of secret manipulations and considerably affect 
the attention of the sitters, whose powers of observation 
are furthermore dulled by the mysterious atmosphere 
created by the expectation of the marvels the medium 
will announce to be about to happen. While all these 
conditions may not be found at seances held for the bene- 
fit of scientific investigators, yet it is a fact that noted 
professional mediums have been unable to produce a 
single phenomenon when the suspicious circumstances 
were removed. 1 

There is an obvious objection to this point. Physical 
experiments depend upon certain conditions. Rub a 
glass-staff and it will become charged with electricity. 
Insist upon rubbing it with a wet cloth or in great 
humidity, and no result will be obtained. Insist upon 
taking photographs in the dark or developing the plates 
or films in broad daylight, and no photographic impres- 
sion will be received. 

On the face of it the objection seems to carry some 
weight. But the conditions upon which natural physical 
phenomena depend are first of all simple, and usually — 
except perhaps in the case of photography — do not in 
the very least suggest a secret process. The reverse of 
this is to be said of the spiritistic phenomena, for not 

1 From 1874 to 1886 Mrs. Sidgwick conducted a series of investiga- 
tions with eight professional mediums. Not a single phenomenon could 
be produced when necessary precautions were taken. See Proceedings, 
8. P. B., iv:45 et seq. 

Nor has the American Society for Psychical Research ever been able 
to find a medium that would produce physical phenomena satisfactorily 
under test-conditions. See Am. Proceedings, S. P. R., i:230. 



126 Genuine and Spurious Phenomena 

only are the conditions complex, without which they are 
said not to occur, but they are precisely those we would 
expect were trickery to be practiced. 

But then there is another consideration which we 
think will be of still more weight. Natural physical 
phenomena depend upon laws and conditions which are 
constant. A copper wire will always conduct electricity 
— rubber never; light will always dissolve nitrate of 
silver; heat always procure expansion, and so forth. 
But this is not the case with spiritistic phenomena. 
Mediums — or rather their "spirit-controls" — will ex- 
plain the "laws" which govern the physical phenomena. 
And these "laws," said to be of a sine qua non nature, 
change with various "spirits" in a self -contradictory 
manner. One "spirit-control" will say that darkness is 
necessary for the production of phenomena — yet, D. D. 
Home usually operated in full light, so did the slate- 
writing mediums, and as regards certain sittings with 
Eusapia we are told by her investigators that the num- 
ber of the phenomena increased in proportion to the 
light. 1 The chain of hands is necessary, yet, when con- 
venient to the medium it may be broken as will be seen, 
for example, on the photographs of levitated tables to 
which we have referred. Certain mediums — as for in- 
stance the Davenport brothers — will operate only when 
isolated from the assistants, and with their hands and 
feet tied, while others will not consent to be tied. The 
apport-phenomena are rather common, but some 
mediums never perform them, and Home's "spirit- 
control" declares that "it is impossible for matter to 
pass through matter." 2 

When we come to inquire into the materialization 
phenomena, we shall be told that they depend upon the 
trance state of the medium. According to Aksakov's 

1 Feilding, Baggally and Carrington in Proceedings, 8. P. R., xxiii : 
323. 

* Researches, etc., p. 98. 



Genuine and Spurious Phenomena 127 

theory there corresponds to each partial or total ma- 
terialization a partial or total dematerialization of the 
medium. 1 Still, at Crookes' tete-a-tetes with Katie 
King, at the materializations at Villa Carmen and at 
many other times, both medium and materialized spirit 
are reported to have been seen together. The "astral- 
body" or "etheric double" theory will have the astral- 
body of the medium, which conforms in size and shape 
with his material body, appear outside him, and such is 
the exact resemblance between the two that the faces 
impressed by Eusapia's double in clay or putty are 
easily recognized to be her face, and the marks of her 
astral fingers in the lamp-black could not be dis- 
tinguished from her finger prints by a Bertillon expert. 
But Sir William Crookes takes photographs both of 
Florence Cook and of Katie King, and finds them two 
different beings: the young lady of Villa Carmen has a 
bearded double with pickelhaube and bedsheet ; Eusapia 
materializes hands of men, women and children, big and 
small, hairy and soft. 

Jan Guzik is never entranced, nor even isolated from 
his sitters when the spirits materialize. However, he 
makes one condition — no pieces of cloth impregnated 
with luminous substances must be tied around his legs 
and arms. That is the supreme "law" of his materiali- 
zations. Some materialized spirits are flowing over 
with startling information, but Mrs. Corner (Florence 
Cook) declares that once back in human shape the 
spirit knows no more than the assistants. 

The very phenomena are mutually contradictory. 
The immediate presence of the medium, and par- 
ticularly of his hands, is required for the most in- 
significant movement without contact, whereas apport 
takes place often from long distances and at that neces- 
sitates the passing of the object brought through brick 
walls or other substantial matter. 



1 Proceedings, 8. P. R., xxiii:323. 



128 Genuine and Spurious Phenomena 

Apart from the element of contradiction, is it 
merely coincidence that the soi-disant laws of the 
spiritistic phenomena seem to point to rather plausible 
methods of trickery? We also find them changing in 
a manner which can not escape our suspicion when we 
compare them with fraudulent methods already dis- 
covered in use. First there is the "materialized hand" 
carrying objects; later, when the trick of freeing one 
hand has been discovered, the "law" changes and the 
"materialized cord," unheard of before Ochorowicz's ex- 
periments, takes its place. The materialized form is 
said to issue from the medium, and to dissolve by re- 
joining him. That is precisely what would appear at 
a staged materialization. Grocyn stands pointing at 
the table from which the sounds issue at Moses' seances. 
All in all, there is a deplorable coincidence between the 
"law" and conditions which would favour fraud. 

The spirits frequently leave relics in the seance-room, 
but these are invariably of the most terrestrial origin — 
we again refer to Katie King's lock and the piece from 
her dress, both secured by the gallant Sir William — 
and as for Anna Rothe's flowers and Baily's birds — 
one even discovered the shops from which they came. 

Certain mediums have been subjected to seances 
under test-conditions which at times have convinced 
the investigators present that mechanical trickery was 
precluded. Such was the case with Sir William Crookes 
when investigating the Home phenomena, and of many 
of Eusapia's investigators. Of course their judgment 
is based merely upon ocular observation which cannot 
always be exact. And it is interesting to notice that 
there is a certain relation between the severity of the 
test conditions and the success of the phenomena. The 
early days of Spiritism show more astounding phe- 
nomena than we have been accustomed to hear of later 
when more rigorous control has been employed. Home's 
phenomena were more marvelous than Eusapia's. 



Genuine and Spurious Phenomena 129 

If the conditions of the seance-room invite to fraud, 
there are also ample methods of fraudulent production. 
Almost every physical phenomenon has been success- 
fully reproduced by mechanical means under conditions 
not only similar to but at times less favourable than 
those of the average seance-room. 

We shall not attempt to describe the many methods 
for lifting and moving objects, producing raps and all 
kinds of sounds, causing objects to appear and disap- 
pear, loosing tied cords (whereby the medium may 
easily free himself in the cabinet), producing luminous 
effects, "spirit-photographs," etc.; suffice it to say that 
there is a profuse abundance of such methods known 
to the sleight-of-hand artist. 1 On the other hand, none 
of these methods would account for certain phenomena 
of this order as they are reported to have been produced 
by certain mediums, notably the "elongations" and 
"fire-test" of D. D. Home. But to these cases we shall 
return later. 

The phenomena which convey intelligence are as 
easily accounted for by fraud as those of a purely 
physical character. We need make no new reference 
to raps as occurring in "rapping-messages" and 
"spirit-telegraphy." Slate- writing is easily performed 
without the intervention of spirits. Both Slade and 
Eglinton, the foremost slate-writing mediums, were 
found to produce the phenomena by substituting for 
the original slate a prepared one. 2 Mr. S. J. Davey 
learned the tricks connected with this art, and gave per- 
formances in broad daylight which baffled even such 
critics as Mr. Podmore. 3 

1 Hereward Carrington has devoted considerable space in his "The 
Physical Phenomena of Spiritualism" to a description of a few of these 
methods. See also Paul Cams, "The Old and New Magic," Chicago, 1906. 

2 Podmore, "Studies, etc.," p. 95, and Criticism by Mrs. Sidgwick in 
Journal, S. P. R., June, 1886. 

3 "He produced a long message in Japanese for a Japanese marquis; 
he made — or seemed to make — pieces of chalk under a glass describe 
geometrical figures . . .; ... he materialized in strong light a woman's 



130 Genuine and Spurious Phenomena 

Planchette-writing, in so far as its physical part is 
concerned, differs little from table turning. Direct 
"spirit-writing" with pencil and paper may be per- 
formed by sleight-of-hand as easily as any "apport" 
phenomenon. 

"Materialization" may, without great difficulty, be 
staged in a dark room 1 with the aid of a few yards of 
white netting previously impregnated with a luminous 
substance. The performer, dressed in black and wear- 
ing a black mask, is invisible in the darkness. He car- 
ries the prepared netting in a small, black bag in his 
vest-pocket 2 or keeps it concealed in the back of his 
chair, and all he has to do is to take it out, let it appear 
on the floor as a small, glowing ball which, as he un- 
folds it, grows into a phantastic rising spirit-shape, and, 
finally, wrapped round him as he takes off his black 
mask and gloves, which have hidden face and hands 
powdered with luminous substance, presents a life-like, 
full-fledged "materialized" spirit. 

Whole scores of "ghosts" have been introduced into 
the seance-room by this method, and readily recognized 
by the sitters as their departed parents, grandparents, 
children, friends and relatives. Indeed, the most charm- 
ing "spirit-queens" have been known to have returned 
to the shadows of earth in quest of some pecunious 
"affinity," to sweeten his life and empty his pocket- 
book. 3 

So far we have shown that there exist conditions and 
methods which render the physical phenomena as a 
whole exceedingly suspicious. That our suspicions are 
not unfounded is eminently shown throughout the 

head, which floated in the air and then dematerialized ; and the half- 
length figure of a bearded man, in a turban, reading a book, who bowed 
to the circle and finally disappeared through the ceiling with a scraping 
noise." (Podmore, "Studies, etc.," pp. 104-105; see also Proceedings, 
8. P. R., vi:416, 418.) 

Harrington, Op. cit., pp. 230-275. 

2 Ibid., pp. 250-251. 

3 Ibid., pp. 258-260. 



Genuine and Spurious Phenomena 131 

history of the spiritistic movement, which, at least in 
so far as physical phenomena are concerned, is so filled 
with evidence of fraud that it would seem that genuine 
productions were scarcely ever exhibited. The Fox 
girls were exposed in fraud, 1 so were Anna Rothe, 2 
Miss Cook, 3 Miss Wood, 4 Mrs. Mellon, 5 Messrs. Slade 6 
and Eglinton, 7 Heme, 8 Williams and Rita, 9 Bastian 
and Taylor, 10 Miss Showers, 11 Eusapia Palladino, 12 the 
spirit-photographers, 13 the Australian, Bailey, 14 Charles 
Eldred, 15 Craddock; 16 as a fact almost every pro- 
fessional physical, and most psychic mediums have — 
in many cases repeatedly — been detected in trickery; 
and only the most amazing credulity coupled with 
ignorance on the part of the masses can explain the 
continued prosperity of the profession. 17 .... Nor 
is fraud to be laid at the door of the paid medium alone, 
for the desire to receive notice, to be extraordinary and 
interesting and to be considered specially gifted has 

1 See pp. 19-20. 

2 Annales des Sciences Psychiques, 1894, p. 388; 1895, p. 53. 

3 See p. 26. 

4 Podmore, "Modern Spiritualism," vol. II, pp. 198, 112-113. 

5 T. Shekleton Henry, "Spookland," pp. 50-51. 

8 See p. 31 and Annales des Sciences Psychiques, 1905, p. 218. 

T Podmore, Op. cit., pp. 206-207; "Studies, etc.," p. 100. 

8 Podmore, "Modern Spiritualism," vol. II, p. 107. 

"Ibid., p. Ill, and Annales des Sciences Psychiques, 1894, p. 333. 

10 Podmore, "Modern Spiritualism," vol. II, p. 107. 

"Ibid., p. 104. 

"See p. 41. 

"See pp. 26-27. 

14 Annales des Sciences Psychiques, 1905, p. 218. 

"Ibid., 1906, pp. 184 and 292. 

"Ibid., 1906, pp. 320, 448. 

"J. N. Maskelyne, a former professional medium, in "The Super- 
natural," p. 183, says: "There does not exist, and there never existed, 
a professional medium of any note who has not been convicted of trickery 
or fraud." He evidently forgets the case of D. D. Home. 

The author of "The Revelations of a Spirit Medium," a former 
Spiritist who admits fraud in his own performances, states (p. 95) : "Of 
all the mediums I have met, in eighteen years, and that means a great 
many, in many phases, I have never met one that was not sailing the 
very same description of craft as myself." See also Myers on "Resolute 
Credulity" and "Spurious Mediumship" in Proceedings, S. P. R., xi:213- 
234, and Journal, S. P. R., iii: 199-207. 



132 Genuine and Spurious Phenomena 

caused many an one to seek emergence from the com- 
parative obscurity, which talent failed to dispel, in 
parading an enviable intimacy with the great spirits 
of the past before small circles of up-to-date society. 

We have just mentioned that malobservation is not 
excluded even on the part of the skeptical scientist and 
critic examining the phenomena. But if we turn to the 
great mass of evidence for genuine phenomena pub- 
lished broadcast in magazines and newspapers by peo- 
ple who do not attend seances in the capacity of critics 
but whose credulity and disposition towards Spiritism 
incline them to accept whatever is presented to them 
no matter under what conditions, we shall find that it 
is without any value whatsoever. And yet, it is this 
kind of evidence which is placed before the vast, un- 
critical public. That such an attitude not only facili- 
tates, but positively invites, fraud goes without saying. 
Mr. Myers gives some interesting data on credulity 
and fraud in his articles on "Resolute Credulity" * and 
"Spurious Mediiimship." 2 Add to this that the 
medium, when the phenomena are slow in coming, may 
receive help from fanatic sitters who know that the 
spirits can cause them, and when for some reason or 
other they fail, do what the spirits would have done. 

But apart from credulity and fanaticism, many a 
sensible and unprejudiced investigator will be deceived, 
for it takes long training to be a good observer. One 
must know and be prepared for tricks and avoid being 
distracted by the methods which mediums use to con- 
trol the attention of their sitters. It is extremely hard, 
if not mostly impossible, to detect the methods of 
professional jugglers. But jugglers are expected to 
"perform" without mishap and failure, whereas the 
medium can fail as many times as he wishes — and 
blame it on the spirits — and choose for his phenomena 

1 In Proceedings, 8. P. R., xi: 213-234. 
2 In Journal, 8. P. B., iii: 199-207. 



Genuine and Spurious Phenomena 133 

moments when the attention of the observers is properly 
diverted and other conditions are favourable. Even 
detection of constant trickery is no more considered an 
argument against the occurrence of genuine phenomena. 



The a priori argument, as said, does not prove that 
the whole of the physical phenomena is imposture. But 
it goes to show how greatly they are open to suspicion 
and certainly places on their side the onus probandi. 
After all that has been said we feel fully justified in 
refusing to accept as genuine a single physical phe- 
nomenon in the absence of direct, positive evidence. In 
seeking this we shall briefly review some of the results 
obtained by scientific investigations, and particularly 
by those associated with Psychical Research, reserving 
the phenomenon of materialization for a special ex- 
amination. 

Investigation in the past is associated especially with 
the names of Dr. Hare, Professor Zollner, and Sir 
William Crookes. Mr. Moses, although never subject 
to scientific examination, offers evidence at least in a 
certain respect valuable. More modern times have had 
a large number of investigators, experimenting with 
several remarkable mediums, but we shall confine our- 
selves here to the investigations conducted with Eusapia 
Palladino whom Carrington hails as the greatest of all 
physical mediums. 1 

To begin with Professor Zollner we find that the only 
accounts of his experiments are given by himself. 2 The 
value of his written evidence depends entirely upon 
whether the phenomena actually occurred as described 
therein, or whether the medium, Slade, succeeded in de- 
ceiving Zollner. There is nothing to corroborate 
Zollner's testimony. 

1 "In her may now be said to culminate and focus the whole evi- 
dential case for the physical phenomena of spiritualism." — "Eusapia 
Palladino and her Phenomena," p. 4. 

2 In "Transcendental Physics." 



134 Genuine and Spurious Phenomena 

To this should be added the fact that Slade was 
notorious for fraudulent performances outside the sit- 
tings with Zollner 1 and even seems to have confessed 
trickery. 2 Carrington 3 gives a rather detailed account 
of the tricks by which the phenomena in question might 
be produced, and also of the possible sources of error 
in Zollner's observation ; and taking all together we are 
forced to admit that Zollner's experiments furnish no 
valid evidence for the genuineness of Slade's phe- 
nomena. 

We shall not detain ourselves with Dr. Hare's ex- 
periments since it is generally admitted that the evi- 
dence they offer for the genuineness of physical phe- 
nomena is inferior to that of Zollner. 4 

Sir William Crookes' experiments fall into three 
parts: those conducted with Miss Cook for the investi- 
gation of "materialization," those conducted with D. D. 
Home covering physical phenomena in general and 
change in weight in particular, and his observations in 
regard to sounds. 

Let us begin with D. D. Home. It has often been 
stated that this gentleman holds the unique position in 
the annals of Spiritism of being the only physical 
medium who was never discovered in trickery. We can 
adduce the testimony of only one person to the con- 
trary. But this is in no way surprising if on the one 
hand we consider the character of Home and his 
presence which won for him the personal affection and 
esteem of all those with whom he came in contact and 
a priori inclined his audience to look upon him as a man 

1 Podmore, "Modern Spiritualism," vol. II, pp. 87-90; Mrs. Sidgwick 
in Proceedings, S. P. R., iv:56; Report of the Seybert Commission, pp. 
56-59; Truesdell, "Spiritualism, Bottom Facts," passim; Carrington, "The 
Physical Phenomena of Spiritualism," pp. 20-24. 

2 Report of the Seybert Commission, p. 70. 

3 "The Physical Phenomena of Spiritualism," pp. 24-47. 

4 Dr. Hyslop says: "Hare's experiments . . . were not so good 
as Zollner's" ("Borderland of Psychical Research," p. 237) ; See also 
Podmore, "Studies, etc." p. 49. 



Genuine and Spurious Phenomena 135 

beyond suspicion ; on the other that this very audience — 
people of society — gathered around him more to be 
amused and entertained than to investigate his phe- 
nomena, this with only a few notable exceptions, par- 
ticularly Sir William Crookes, whose experiments with 
Home we now propose to discuss. But let us first quote 
a letter written in August, 1855, by Mr. Merrifield, and 
bearing upon Home's phenomena: 1 

". . . . Just as we were on the point of taking our 
leave, the medium professed his willingness to give us 
another sitting. Accordingly, we took our places at the 
side of the table, the medium occupying the extreme 
right, and a constant associate of his sitting opposite 
to him. I sat nearly halfway between them, and there- 
fore facing the windows. The table was circular, and 
the semicircle nearest the window was unoccupied. The 
lights were removed, and very soon the operations be- 
gan. It was about eleven o'clock; the moon had set, 
but the night was starlight, and we could well see the 
outline of the windows and distinguish, though not 
with accuracy of outline, the form of any large object 
intervening before them. The medium sat as low as 
possible in his low seat. His hands and arms were 
under the table. He talked freely, encouraging con- 
versation, and seeming uneasy when it flagged. After 
a few preliminary raps somebody exclaimed that the 
'spirit-hand' had appeared, and the next moment an 
object resembling a child's hand, with a long, wide 
sleeve attached to it, appeared before the light. This 
occurred several times. The object appeared mainly 
at one or other of two separate distances from the 
medium. One of these distances was just that of his 
foot, the other that of his outstretched hand; and when 
the object receded or approached, I noticed that the 
medium's body or shoulder sank or rose in the chair 

1 Journal, 8. P. R., May 1903, pp. 77-78. 



136 Genuine and Spurious Phenomena 

accordingly. This was pretty conclusive to myself and 
the friend who accompanied me; but afterwards, upon 
the invitation of one of the dupes present, the 'spirit- 
hand' rose so high that we saw the whole connection be- 
tween the medium's shoulder and arm, and the 'spirit- 
hand' dressed out on the end of his own." 

In this connection it may be interesting to note that 
Robert Browning was convinced "that the whole display 
of hands, spirit utterances, etc., was a cheat and im- 
posture." 1 

We shall now return to Sir William Crookes and the 
scientific investigation of Home's phenomena. 

The experiment with the accordion was considered 
by Sir William and his assistants as a crucial test. 2 It 
is evident that Home could not have played the ac- 
cordion under the circumstances. On the other hand 
the alleged phenomenon is so extraordinary that we 
can not accept its genuineness unless all possibilities of 
prestidigitation or other forms of trickery can be elimi- 
nated. This, we think, cannot be done. 

We may well suppose that Home did not come un- 
prepared ; rather he must have known what kind of phe- 
nomena were expected, for Sir William states that the 
experiments in his home were held for the purpose of 
testing certain phenomena which had occurred under 
Home's influence. Sir William had witnessed them 
"some half dozen times" before. 3 



1 Times (London), Nov. 28, 1902. 

2 "Mr. Home still holding the accordion in the usual manner (be- 
tween thumb and middle finger of one hand at the opposite end to the 
keys) in the cage, his feet being held by those next to him, and his other 
hand resting on the table, we heard distinct and separate notes sounded 
in succession, and then a simple air was played. As such a result could 
only have been produced by the various keys of the instrument being 
acted upon in harmonious succession, this was considered by those pres- 
ent to be a crucial experiment. But the sequel was still more striking, 
for Mr. Home then removed his hand altogether from the accordion, tak- 
ing it quite out of the cage, and placed it in the hand of a person next 
to him. The instrument then continued to play, no person touching it 
and no hand being near it." — "Researches, etc." p. 13. 

3 Ibid., p. 10. 



Genuine and Spurious Phenomena 137 

Now, the music consisted of a few sounds, several 
notes in succession and a simple air. What could have 
been easier for Home than to produce this quantity of 
music by means of a music-box carried concealed on 
his person? The most natural conclusion, then, is that 
the accordion did not play at all, and that the experi- 
menters simply took for granted that the sounds from 
the concealed music box issued from the accordion. 
There is nothing in Sir William's account to suggest 
that he ascertained the exact source of the music. 

Sir William mentions the temperature in the room 
but makes no record of the intensity of its illumination. 
Yet, the value of visual observation would have been 
greatly reduced had the light been dim. In connection 
with his experiments with the spring balance appa- 
ratus Sir William mentions that the light was ample 
enough to show all that took place. 1 We do not know 
whether this statement should be taken to include the 
experiments with the accordion. But even with the 
light from a gas jet, the space under the table where 
the cage was placed must have been quite dark. Sir 
William's assistant crept under the table where he ob- 
served the accordion expanding and contracting while 
Home's hand, which was holding it, remained still. 
But it would not have been very difficult for Home to 
produce these movements in the accordion to which the 
air had access by the base key being open, 2 and oc- 
casional minute jerks of his hand, which was concealed 
in the comparative darkness under and close to the top 
of the table, would scarcely have been detected. Had 
a lamp been placed under the table the test would have 
carried more weight, but Sir William would not have 
failed to make mention of such precaution if it had been 
taken. 



1 "Researches, etc.," p. 36. 
a "Researches, etc.," p. 12. 



138 Genuine and Spurious Phenomena 

A small, black silk cord with a hook would have 
helped Home to complete the marvel. With some skill 
in his fingers he could have fastened the hook in the 
table above his hand and suspended the accordion from 
the cord which would not have been visible in the dark- 
ness under the table, and again introducing his hand 
into the cage to remove the accordion he could also 
have removed the evidence of the trick. 

The music box and the cord are Mr. Podmore's sug- 
gestion for an explanation of the phenomenon. 1 Sir 
William must have foreseen criticism of this kind, for 
he states 2 that on the afternoon of the experiment he 
called for Mr. Home in his apartment and was present 
when Home changed dress, thus being able "to state 
positively that no machinery, apparatus, or contrivance 
of any sort was secreted about his person." But what 
could have prevented Home, who knew what kind of 
phenomena would be expected, from slipping the music 
box and cord into his top-coat pocket? So far as Sir 
William's account shows, evidently nothing. 

Next we come to the experiments with the spring 
balance. Mr. Podmore thinks 3 that the weakness in 
the evidence for the results reported consists in "that 
Home, a practised conjurer, as the past record of him- 
self and his followers entitles us to assume, dictated the 
conditions of the experiment" This he did by declin- 
ing to allow the capricious force of which he was master 
to operate until the conditions were to his liking. This 
is confirmed by Sir William's statement: 4 "The ex- 
periments I have tried have been very numerous, but 
owing to our imperfect knowledge of the conditions 
which favor or oppose the manifestations of this force, 
to the apparently capricious manner in which it is ex- 



lt( The Newer Spiritualism," p. 51. 

2 "Researches, etc.," p. 11. 

3 Op. cit., pp. 52-53. 

* "Researches, etc.," p. 110. 



Genuine and Spurious Phenomena 139 

erted, and to the fact that Mr. Home himself is subject 
to unaccountable ebbs and flows in the force, it has 
but seldom happened that a result obtained on one oc- 
casion could be subsequently confirmed and tested with 
apparatus specially contrived for the purpose." 1 

Mr. Podmore's inference is that Home employed a 
device such as "a loop of black silk, which would be in- 
visible in the obscurity, passed over the distal end of 
the board and attached at the other end to some part 
of Home's person." 2 No doubt, this might have been 
done in the obscurity by a person skilled in the art of 
prestidigitation. And Mr. Podmore asserts that ob- 
scurity probably was one of the necessary conditions 
for the success of the experiment, basing himself on 
the fact that at a certain occasion the light is reported 
to have been so dim as scarcely to show the movement 
of the board and index. 3 This, however, was not al- 
ways the case, for Sir William expressly states — as we 
have already mentioned — that the light was sufficient 
to show all that took place. 

And the difficulty increases when we consider the 
results obtained with the more perfected apparatus. 4 
The first experiment was made with a non-professional 
female medium whose hands were held under con- 
trol on the board of the apparatus while "percussive 
noises were heard on the parchment, resembling the 
dropping of grains of sand on its surface." 5 We can 
not here adopt the explanation that the medium freed 
one hand — in the manner known from Eusapia's 
seances — for the light was sufficient for Sir William 
to see a fragment of graphite on the membrane being 
projected about l-50th of an inch simultaneously with 

1 "Researches, etc." 

2 Op. cit., p. 64. 

3 Podmore, Op. cit., p. 53, and Proceedings, S. P. R., vi:110. 

4 See p. 56. 

5 Researches, etc., p. 39. 



140 Genuine and Spurious Phenomena 

the occurrence of the percussions. It should be noted 
that the medium came fully ignorant of the nature of 
the experiments. 1 

Similar results were obtained with Home when hold- 
ing his one hand above the membrane and about ten 
inches from the surface, the other being under control. 
The movements of the lever were, however, much 
slower and not accompanied by the percussive vibra- 
tions previously noticed. If the light had been dim, 
Home would have been able easily to perform his task 
with the help of a black silk cord with a small weight 
suspended from his hand above the membrane. But 
there is no information regarding the light, and the ex- 
periment succeeded when Home was two to three feet 
away from the apparatus. This, however, did not take 
place until he had had time to study the experiment 
and to procure suitable apparatus for its success. We 
must admit the great difficulty in detecting the methods 
of skilled prestidigitators, and the value of the evidence 
is much lessened by the fact that at this stage of experi- 
mentation Sir William was quite convinced that he had 
discovered a new force the manifestation of which he 
was witnessing. 

While nevertheless fraud might have been excluded 
by sufficient precautions, Sir William's account does 
not bear out the actuality thereof, and the evidence we 
now possess must consequently be considered incon- 
clusive. 

Home's levitations show but one remarkable ex- 
ample — his reported floating in the air outside the 
house. But the evidence for this phenomenon is very 
faulty. First of all, Lord Lindsay was sitting with his 
back to the window through which Home is alleged to 
have floated into the room, and he judged only from 
the shadow of Home which presented itself upon the 



1 Researches, etc., p. 39. 



Genuine and Spurious Phenomena 141 

opposite wall. Having been warned by a whispering 
voice that Home was to float out through the window 
in the opposite room and in the same manner enter the 
room where he was sitting, his Lordship heard the first 
window open, saw the shadow on the wall, heard the 
second window open in its turn, and then found Home 
near it in the room. The rest was made up in his 
imagination. 1 After all, the testimony of one who 
examines the phenomena by turning his back upon them 
and looking at their shadow does not carry inconvenient 
weight. And he was already — previous to this inci- 
dent — convinced of Home's power to levitate himself. 
Lord Adare testifies to having heard the windows 
raised and that Home appeared outside the window. 
But he did not see Home appear outside the window, 
he simply tells what he heard Lord Lindsay describe. 
Captain Wynne, the third witness, says he can swear 
to the fact. But there is no statement to show that 
either of the three gentlemen had seen Home floating 
outside the windows. Mr. Podmore thinks that Home, 
having prepared the minds of the witnesses for the mar- 
vel which was to take place, noisily opened the window 
in the adjoining room, slipped back to the seance-room 
under cover of the darkness, got behind the curtains, 
opened the windows, and stepped on to the window 

1 This report to the Sub-Committee of the Dialectical Society 
(Dialectical Report, p. 214) reads: "I saw the levitations in Victoria 
Street when Home floated out of the window. He first went into a 
trance, and walked about uneasily; he then went into the hall. While 
he was away I heard a voice whisper in my ear, 'He will go out of one 
window and in at another.' I was alarmed and shocked at the idea of so 
dangerous an experiment. I told the company what I had heard, and 
we then waited for Home's return. Shortly after he entered the room I 
heard the window go up, but I could not see, for I sat with my back to 
it. I, however, saw his shadow on the opposite wall; he went out of the 
window in a horizontal position, and I saw him outside the other window 
(that in the next room) floating in the air. It was eighty-five feet from 
the ground." 

Two years later Lord Lindsay wrote from memory an account which 
is given in Chapter II. 



142 Genuine and Spurious Phenomena 

ledge. 1 At least, there is nothing to show that the feat 
was not accomplished in this or a similar manner. 

Home also exhibited less exciting levitations, mostly 
in complete darkness, but it is to be noted that either 
the evidence of touch alone is given or, when the phe- 
nomenon was produced in a dim light, Home's body- 
was only partially seen. Under such circumstances it 
would not have been difficult for him artificially to pro- 
duce the impression that he was floating. 

Mr. Podmore dismisses the evidence for Home's 
elongation as insufficient and unreliable. 2 Lord Lind- 
say's account of the phenomena he had witnessed was 
written some time after their alleged occurrence and 
Lord Adare's contemporary notes are too meagre to 
elucidate the phenomenon. It seems difficult to find an 
account which would convince us that the medium's 
heels did not leave the ground at the moment when the 
elongation took place. It is obvious that lacking this 
point any evidence becomes inconclusive. 

Finally there is the so-called fire-test. Mr. Podmore 
quotes some cases which he thinks could without diffi- 
culty be ascribed to the art of the conjurer. Now, 
several methods are known whereby the phenomenon 
may be staged, one consisting in preparing the part of 
the skin which is to touch the coal with chemical sub- 
stances such as alum or sulphuric acid, or, if the heated 
object is to be placed on the tongue, covering this organ 
with a layer of powdered sugar, which in its turn is then 
covered with soap. Another method is found in sub- 
stituting for the coal a piece of platinum-sponge the 
upper part of which, as held in the hand, is made to 
glow by application of hydrogen or alcohol. 

It must be taken for granted that none of these 
methods could have been used by Home. First of all, 
it was often the sitters who had to undergo the test, 

1(e The Newer Spiritualism," pp. 71-72. 
3 Ibid., pp. 72-76. 



Genuine and Spurious Phenomena 143 

which fact excludes previous preparation of the skin. 
And should we not give Sir William — a physicist and 
chemist — credit for being able to distinguish between 
charcoal and a piece of platinum sponge? 

The evidence at hand, to our mind, shows cases quite 
beyond the possibilities of prestidigitation, and Podmore 
admits this of certain cases "if accurately recorded." 1 
The handkerchief incident, 2 of course, is rather sus- 
picious, for Home could have used two handkerchiefs, 
substituting a previously prepared one for the handker- 
chief he showed the sitters. But it is difficult to con- 
tradict Lord Lindsay's evidence before the Committee 
of the Dialectical Society and the last instance described 
by Sir William Crookes, unless we appeal to collective 
hallucination. 3 

For the present we shall not enter upon a discussion 
of the theory of collective hallucination. Granting that 
Home's fire-test had an objective reality such as pre- 
sented in the accounts which we have quoted, there is 

lu The Newer Spiritualism," p. 80. 

2 See p. 68. 

3 Lord Lindsay's report on the "fire-test" reads as follows (Dialectical 
Report, pp. 208-209) : "I have frequently seen Home, when in trance, 
go to the fire and take out large red-hot coals, and carry them about in 
his hands, put them inside his shirt, etc. Eight times I myself have held 
a red-hot coal in my hands without injury, when it scorched my face on 
raising my hand. Once I wished to see if they really would burn, and I 
said so, and touched a coal with the middle finger of my right hand, and 
I got a blister as large as a sixpence; I instantly asked him to give me 
the coal, and I held the part that burnt me, in the middle of my hand, 
for three or four minutes, without the least inconvenience." 

"A few weeks ago I was at a seance with eight others. Of these, seven 
held a red-hot coal without pain, and the two others could not bear the 
approach of it; of the seven, four were ladies." 

Sir William Crookes' report on the fire-test in Proceedings, 8. P. R., 
vi:103: "Mr. Home again went to the fire, and, after stirring the hot 
coals about with his hand, took out a red-hot piece nearly as big as an 
orange, and, putting it on his right hand, covered it over with his left 
hand so as to almost completely enclose it, and then blew into the small 
furnace thus extemporized until the lump of charcoal was nearly white- 
hot, and then drew my attention to the lambent flame which was flicker- 
ing over the coal and licking round his fingers; he fell on his knees, looked 
up in a reverent manner, held up the coal in front, and said: 'Is not 
God good ? Are not His laws wonderful V " 



144 Genuine and Spurious Phenomena 

nothing unique in this phenomenon, for occurrences of 
similar nature have been recorded from various parts 
of the world and quite apart from Spiritism. We refer 
to the so-called fire-walk' which has been and still is in 
vogue in many countries and of which Andrew Lang 
gives an account in the Proceedings of the Society for 
Psychical Research. 1 We mention the following in- 
stances : 

Colonel Gudgeon, three other Europeans and two 
hundred Maoris walked with bare feet across the hot 
stones of an oven twelve feet in diameter prepared for 
that purpose by the natives of Rarotonga, Polynesia, 
and neither he nor two of his European friends suffered 
the slightest injury. The fourth in the party was badly 
burned because he disobeyed the rules and turned round. 
It is certain that no chemical preparation was applied 
to the Europeans at least. To show the state of heat 
of the stones the priest, who conducted the ceremony, 
and who handed over to the fire-walkers the mana or 
power over the fire, half an hour afterwards threw on 
them a green branch which in a quarter of a minute was 
blazing. The incident occurred in 1899. 2 

Similar ceremonies are customary among the inhabit- 
ants of the Fiji Islands, and Dr. Hocken, who witnessed 
one of them, gives the following account thereof. 3 
Seven or eight Fiji natives belonging to a clan which 
possesses the power to execute the "vilavilairevo" or 
fire ceremony walked across and around a stone oven 
twelve to fifteen feet in diameter in which a fire had 
been burning for thirty-six or forty-eight hours, the 
leader remaining within for about one-half minute. 
Immediately after he had entered leaves of the hibiscus 
were thrown into the oven which they immediately 

a Vol. xv : 2-15. 

2 "Te Umer-Ti, or Fire Walking Ceremony," by Col. Gudgeon, British 
Resident, Rarotonga, quoted by Andrew Lang, in Op. cit. pp. 4-6. 

3 "An account of the Fiji Fire Ceremony," by Dr. T. M. Hocken, 
F. L. S., quoted by Andrew Lang, in Op. cit., pp. 6-11. 



Genuine and Spurious Phenomena 145 

filled with clouds of hissing steam. Dr. Hocken caused 
a thermometer to be suspended five feet and six inches 
above the center of the hot stones, but after a few 
moments it had to be withdrawn to escape destruction 
by the heat and it was then found to register 282° Fahr. 
He also examined two of the natives immediately be- 
fore and after their performances, testing the skin of 
their feet even with his tongue, but he neither found 
traces of preparation nor injuries from the fire. The 
power is considered hereditary. 

A fire walk in Tokio was witnessed in 1899 by Colonel 
Andrew Haggard, who tells us 1 that the performers 
after an ablution in cold water walked through a fire 
of red-hot charcoal, six yards long by six feet wide. 
When afterwards examining their feet he found them 
quite soft and without a trace of the effects of fire. 

Mr. Stokes 2 saw thirteen persons during a ceremony 
in India walking unhurt through a fire twenty-seven 
feet long, seven and a half feet broad and a span deep, 
while a boy who fell in the same fire was burnt to death. 
Referring to fire-walks in India Dr. Oppert 3 states 
that "the heat is unbearable in the neighborhood of the 
ditch" in which it is built, but the walkers "as a rule do 
not do themselves much harm." 

In the Straits Settlements, Province of Wellesley, 
six coolies prepared by a "devil-doctor" were observed 
walking the full length of a trench twenty feet long, 
six feet wide, and two feet deep, on a bed of red-hot 
coal from a pyre of wood four or five feet high, which 
had been burning four hours. They then walked into 
water. None of them showed the slightest sign of in- 
jury, although later one who fell was terribly burned. 4 

*Col. Andrew Haggard in The Field, May 20, 1899, p. 724, quoted by 
Andrew Lang in Op. cit., p. 11. 

2 In "The Indian Antiquary," vol. II, p. 190, quoted by Andrew Lang, 
in Op. cit., p. 12. 

s "Original Inhabitants of India," p. 480, quoted by Andrew Lang in 
Op. cit., p. 12. 

*Op. cit., pp. 12-13. 



146 Genuine and Spurious Phenomena 

Other cases are recorded from the Fiji Islands, 
Benares, Trinidad, Spain and Bulgaria. 1 

It should be mentioned that photographs were taken 
during some of those performances and Mr. Lang's 
article especially refers to one taken by Lieutenant 
Morne of the French Navy and published in the Poly- 
nesian Journal, 2 and to another in the possession of Mr. 
Basil Thompson of New York. 

Mr. Lang comes to the following conclusion: 3 "For 
my part I remain without a theory, like all European 
observers whom I have quoted. But in my humble 
opinion, all the usual theories, whether of collective 
hallucinations (photographic cameras being halluci- 
nated), of psychical causes, of chemical application, 
of leathery skin on the soles of the feet, and so on, are 
inadequate." 

If Spiritism is the solution let the mediums try it! 
In the meantime Home's case remains unexplained. 



It would be impossible within the scope of this 
treatise to attempt a criticism of the Palladino phe- 
nomena. No medium has been more thoroughly ex- 
amined and the accounts of over twenty years of in- 
vestigation by men of high ability are sufficient in them- 
selves to fill numerous volumes. We have the records 
from over twenty series of investigations by scientific 
bodies, and also a vast literature containing com- 
mentary on and criticism of these records, accessible 
to all who are interested in the matter; but for the 
reasons stated we shall not enter into the subject fur- 
ther than to indicate the main steps in the investiga- 
tion of Eusapia as a whole and to state the conclusions 
to which a study of her case has brought us. 

*For historical cases see: Mneid, VII, 800; XI, 784 et seq.; Pliny, 
Hist. Nat., VII, 2; Silius Italicus, V, 175. 

2 Vol. II, No. 2, p. 105. 

3 Op. cit., p. 14. 



Genuine and Spurious Phenomena 147 

The investigations fall into three main periods, each 
forming a more or less logical and independent series 
conducted under the supervision of partly different 
groups of investigators, the first beginning with the 
labors of the Milan Commission in 1892 1 and ending 
with the Cambridge sittings in 1895, the second includ- 
ing a number of experiments chiefly by French and 
Italian savants, and the third and last conducted by 
members of the English Society for Psychical Research 
and including sittings in New York before representa- 
tives of the American public. 



Professor Lombroso's experiments with Eusapia in 
Naples, which led him to accept her phenomena as 
genuine, had opened the eyes of scientific men to the 
seriousness of the problem which her case offered, and 
as a result a body of illustrious savants, including Pro- 
fessors Schiaparelli, Director of the Observatory of 
Milan, and Gerosa, the physicist, Dr. Ermacora, M. 
Aksakov, Councillor to His Majesty of Russia, Dr. 
Charles du Prel of Munich, Professors Charles Richet 
of the Sorbonne, and Buffern, and M. Finzi, met in 
October, 1892, in the latter's home in Milan for the 
purpose of examining Eusapia's phenomena. 2 The in- 
vestigation covered seventeen sittings at which were 
observed phenomena such as telekinesis, once in full 
light, table movement without contact, apport with 
the hands of the medium tied loosely to those of her 
controllers, impressions of fingers on smoked paper, 
levitation of the medium, apparitions and touchings of 
hands, contact with human faces, but the most striking 

1 Various experiments preceded and led up to those of the Milan 
Commission, notably those of Chiaia in 1888 and Lombroso and others in 
1891. 

2 Proceedings, 8. P. R., ix: 21 8-225; Annales des Sciences Psychiques, 
Jan.-Feb. 1893; Flammarion, "Mysterious Psychic Forces," pp. 151-161; 
Carrington, "Eusapia Palladino and Her Phenomena," pp. 29-34; Podmore, 
"The Newer Spiritualism," pp. 89-93. 



148 Genuine and Spurious Phenomena 

and best observed phenomena were those of levitation 
of the table and alteration of the medium's weight, both 
occurring in full light. The report of the sittings con- 
tains a declaration signed by all the sitters with ex- 
ception of Prof. Richet, and stating that while the 
results did not always come up to their expectations, 
and while in the greater number of cases it had been 
impossible to apply the rules of experimental science 
regarded as indispensable for obtaining certain and in- 
contestable results in other fields of observation, they 
did not feel justified to assert that the whole perform- 
ance had been fraudulent, although this might ulti- 
mately prove to be the simplest explanation. 1 Richet 
comes to the conclusion that although the phenomena 
were absurd and unsatisfactory, it seems difficult to 
attribute them to conscious or unconscious fraud or to 
a series of deceptions; nevertheless, conclusive proof 
that there was no fraud on Eusapia's part, or illusion 
on the part of the observers, is wanting. 



We shall not tarry over the less striking phenomena 
which almost all occurred in darkness. But a few 
words might be said about the alteration of the 
medium's weight and the table levitations, because these 

*We quote from Flammarion's ''Mysterious Psychic Forces," which 
gives a reproduction of the report — pp. 151-152. The signed declaration 
reads as follows: "The results obtained did not always come up to our 
expectations. Not that we did not secure a large number of facts ap- 
parently or really important and marvellous; but, in the greater num- 
ber of cases we were not able to apply the rules of experimental science 
which, in other fields of observation, are regarded as indispensable in 
order to arrive at certain and incontestable results. The most important 
of those rules consists in changing, one after the other, the methods of 
experiment, in such a way as to bring out the true cause, or at least the 
true conditions of all the events. Now it is precisely from this point 
of view that our experiments seem to us still incomplete." 

"It is very true that the medium, to prove her good faith, often 
voluntarily proposed to change some feature of some or the other ex- 
periment, and frequently herself took the initiative in these changes. But 
this applied only to things that were apparently indifferent, according 
to our way of seeing. On the contrary, the changes which seemed to us 



Genuine and Spurious Phenomena 149 

phenomena were ranked as carrying superior evidence, 
particularly because of having been observed in good 
light. Kichet has appended photographs of the levita- 
tions to his report in the Annates. 1 

The first experiment with the medium's weight 
registered a change of seventeen and a half pounds, but 
the apparatus employed was not a very suitable one 
and no conclusion was reached. A better instrument 
was then devised consisting of a platform suspended 
by the four corners and attached to a lever which would 
register the weight automatically. A change in position 
of an object on the platform would not affect the 
registration. 

While Eusapia was resting on the platform certain 
slight upward movements were observed, lasting not 
more than twenty seconds. But it should be noted that 
although Richet and Schiaparelli assert that she 
touched neither floor nor table, her dress was in con- 
tact with the floor,, and that no results were obtained 
when such contact was prevented, and, furthermore, 
that the observers were not certain that the registration 
of change in weight did not take place at the very 
moment when Eusapia took hold of the hand of one of 
their number. In the presence of such conditions there 
is absolutely no evidence to show that the recorded 

necessary to put the true character of the results beyond doubt, either 
were not accepted as possible or ended in uncertain results. 

"We do not believe we have the right to explain these things by the 
aid of insulting assumptions, which many still find to be the simplest 
explanation, and of which some journals have made themselves champions. 
We think, on the contrary, that those experiments are concerned with 
phenomena of an unknown nature, and we confess that we do not know 
what the conditions are that are required to produce them. To desire 
to fix these conditions in our own right and out of our own head would 
be as extravagant as to presume to make the experiment of Torricelli's 
barometer with a tube closed at the bottom, or to make electrostatic ex- 
periments in an atmosphere saturated with humidity, or to take a photo- 
graph by exposing the sensitive plate in full light before placing it in 
the camera. However, it is a fact that the impossibility of varying the 
experiments in our own way has diminished the worth and the interest 
of the results obtained, by depriving them of that rigorous demonstration 
which we are right in demanding in cases of this kind, or, rather, to 
which we ought to aspire." 

1 Annates des Sciences Psychiques, 1893. 



150 Genuine and Spurious Phenomena 

change was not fraudulently produced by the medium. 
There were both partial and complete levitations of 
the table and a special apparatus was employed to 
register the pressure brought to bear on it, upward 
when Eusapia's hands were held on the table, down- 
ward when under the table. About seven pounds pres- 
sure in either direction was registered during partial 
levitations, the end of the table, where the medium was 
sitting, suffering the pressure. The hand control seems 
to have been quite effective. The report says: 1 "In 
all the experiments which precede, we gave our atten- 
tion principally to a careful inspection of the position 
of the hands and feet of the medium; and, in this 
respect, we believe we can say that they were safe from 
all criticism. Still, a scrupulous sincerity compels us 
to mention the fact to which we did not begin to call 
attention before the evening of October 5th, but which 
probably must have occurred also in the preceding ex- 
periments. It consists in this, that the four feet of the 
table could not be considered as perfectly isolated dur- 
ing the levitation, because one of them at least was in 
contact with the lower edge of the medium's dress." 
.... "One of us having been charged with the duty 
of hindering this contact, the table was unable to rise 
as before, and it only did rise when the observer in- 
tentionally permitted the contact to take place." The 
reporter then asks: "Now, in what way is it possible 
for the contact of a light dress-stuff with the lower ex- 
tremity of the foot of a table to assist in the levitation?" 
Well, we shall see ! 



Professor Richet, wishing to continue the experi- 
ments with Eusapia with a view to obtaining evidence 
of a more satisfactory character, invited some distin- 
guished men to investigate her mediumship in his home 
on the He de Roubaud. His invitation was accepted 

1 See Flammarion, "Mysterious Psychic Forces," p. 155. 



Genuine and Spurious Phenomena 151 

by Sir Oliver Lodge, Mr. F. W. H. Myers, and Dr. 
Ochorowicz, and by Professor and Mrs. Henry Sidg- 
wick and Sir William Crookes, who arrived for the later 
part of the sittings. The experiments which began in 
July, 1894, were after some time transferred from the 
island to Carquieranne. 1 

Four sittings were held and the usual phenomena 
were exhibited, including raps, tilts and levitations of 
the table in full light, telekinetic phenomena of a cer- 
tain variety, playing of musical instruments, touches, 
faces, and so forth, the most remarkable ones consist- 
ing in the winding of a music box, which then began to 
play and finally was torn from the string by which it 
was suspended, and in the turning of a key in a door 
seven feet from the medium, which key subsequently 
was brought to the table and again replaced in the key- 
hole. 

Richet, Lodge and Myers were convinced that some 
of the phenomena they had witnessed were due to super- 
natural causes and Sir William Crookes also seems to 
accept this conclusion; the Sidgwicks were impressed 
but not convinced. In his report, however, Lodge offers 
no explanation but asserts that his conviction is mainly 
based on his observation of telekinetic phenomena in 
sufficient light to see the objects move, those being the 
simplest and most definite. And he argues that if the 
genuineness of some of the phenomena, which would 
seem impossible, is established, the rest will be the more 
easily accepted. 2 

1 See Oliver Lodge's report on the sittings in Journal, 8. P. R., vi : 306- 
360; Carrington, "Eusapia Palladino and Her Phenomena," pp. 38-51; 
Podmore, "The Newer Spiritualism," pp. 93-97; Hodgson's criticism in 
Journal, 8. P. B., vi: 36-55; Reply to Hodgson by Myers, Lodge, Richet 
and Ochorowicz, Ibid., vii: 55-79. 

2 Sir Oliver Lodge thus concludes his report on the sitting, in Journal, 
8. P. R., vi:360: "However the facts are to be explained, the possibility 
of the facts I am constrained to admit. There is no further room in my 
mind for doubt. Any person without invincible prejudice who had had 
the same experience, would have come to the same broad conclusion, viz.: 
That things hitherto held impossible do actually occur. If one such fact 



152 Genuine and Spurious Phenomena 

The report was sent to Dr. Hodgson, whose long ex- 
perience and great ability in detecting trickery in 
mediumistic performances was well known, and in a 
lengthy reply he shows that the phenomena as described 
could all have been performed by Eusapia using a 
special method of freeing one hand or foot. 1 Hodgson's 
criticism did not disturb the conviction of either Richet 
or Lodge, but Myers could not deny feeling the weight 
of his argument. 2 The discussion continued and re- 
sulted in Hodgson's acceptance of an invitation to come 
and witness Eusapia's phenomena. 



Dr. Hodgson, who then was secretary for the Amer- 
ican Society for Psychical Research, came to England 
in 1895, and sittings with Eusapia were arranged in 
Mr. Myers' home in Cambridge. 3 The seances which 
were held in a series during the months of August and 
September were attended, besides Hodgson and Mr. 

is clearly established, the conceivability of others may be more readily 
granted, and I concentrated my attention mainly on what seemed to me 
the most simple and definite thing, viz.: the movement of an untouched 
object, in sufficient light for no doubt of its motion to exist. This I have 
now witnessed several times; the fact of movement being vouched for by 
both sight and hearing, sometimes also by touch, and the objectivity of 
the phenomena being demonstrated by the sounds heard by an outside 
observer,* and by permanent alteration of position of object. . . . 
The effect on an observer is usually more as if the connecting link, if 
any (between object and living organism of medium), were invisible and 
intangible, or as if a portion of vital or directing energy had been de- 
tached, and were producing distant movements without apparent con- 
nection with the medium. . . . The result of my experience is to con- 
vince me that certain phenomena usually considered abnormal do belong 
to the order of nature, and, as a corollary to this, that these phenomena 
ought to be investigated and recorded by persons and societies interested 
in natural knowledge." 

1 Journal, 8. P. R., vii: 36-55. 

2 For their replies to Hodgson and that of Ochorowicz, see Journal, 
8. P. R., vii: 55-79. 

3 Journal, 8. P. R., vii: 131, 148; Canington, "Eusapia Palladino and 
Her Phenomena," pp. 51-57 ; Podmore, "The Newer Spiritualism" pp. 97- 
98; Flammarion, "Mysterious Psychic Forces," p. 168. 



*Dr. Ochorowicz from the outside heard the key, which later was 
brought to the table, turn in the door. 



Genuine and Spurious Phenomena 153 

and Mrs. Myers, by Mr. Nevil Maskelyne, Miss Alice 
Johnson, and Professor and Mrs. Sidgwick. 

The result of the Cambridge experiments was to con- 
firm beyond any doubt Dr. Hodgson's hypothesis, for 
fraud was detected again and again in actual operation 
and the experimenters unanimously adopted the con- 
clusion that they had witnessed nothing but trickery. 

There are several points to be noted. First of all 
the tricks were found to be effected by Eusapia using 
one hand or foot which she succeeded in freeing from 
the control employed. Sometimes, it seems, she em- 
ployed her head. Mr. Myers states that the experi- 
menters in several cases at first sight were favorably 
impressed with the phenomena, and only by making 
changes in the conditions were able to ascertain that 
fraud was practiced. This goes to show what undoubt- 
edly would have been the result had they been content 
with mere observation and not insisted upon changing 
the conditions. It also shows that Eusapia possessed 
great skill in prestidigitation which could have been 
gained only by years of systematic trickery. Fraud 
was attempted even when the tests were at their best, 
and, Myers states, practiced both in her waking state 
and in her real or simulated trance. 1 

The Cambridge exposure led the Society for 
Psychical Research to drop the investigation of 
Eusapia. But the world was not convinced. Hardly 
had the news of the exposures been published before 
a storm of discussions broke loose, and arguments for 

^rom F. W. H. Myers' report in Journal, 8. P. R., vii:133: "I can 
not doubt that we observed much conscious and deliberate fraud, of a 
kind which must have needed long practice to bring it to its present level 
of skill. Nor can I find any excuse for her fraud (assuming that such 
excuse would be valid) in the attitude of mind of the persons, several of 
them distinguished in the world of science, who assisted in the inquiry. 
Their attitude was a fair and open one; in all cases they showed patience, 
and in several cases the impression first made on their minds was dis- 
tinctly favorable. With growing experience, however, and careful ob- 
servation of the precise conditions permitted or refused to us, the existence 
of some fraud became clear; and fraud was attempted when the tests 



154 Genuine and Spurious Phenomena 

and against Eusapia made their appearance both in 
the literature devoted to the subject and in the English 
daily press. 

Dr. Maxwell severely criticized the results of the 
experiments on the grounds that the attitude of the 
investigators towards Eusapia was one of haughtiness 
and disdain, which made her ill at ease and prevented her 
from making use of her mediumistic powers. He adds 
that the unaccustomed climate coupled with the undue 
length of the sittings exhausted her. She was physic- 
ally and morally unfit for the task imposed upon her. 1 

But this is partly in contradiction to Myers' state- 
ment, 2 in which he says that he fails to find an excuse 
for Eusapia's fraud in the attitude of mind of those 
present, which was a fair and open one, free from im- 
patience. Both Myers and the Sidgwicks had been 
sitting with Eusapia before, and it would be strange 
if persons of their insight in matters psychological 
should have failed to correct or at least make due al- 
lowances for so adverse conditions. 

Mr. Carrington has no difficulty in pointing out the 
exact cause of Eusapia's failure. It has always been 
well known that she would resort to trickery under lax 
control, and the lax control employed at Cambridge in- 
duced her to practice fraud at every seance. 3 

were as good as we were allowed to make them, quite as indisputably as 
on the few occasions when our holding was intentionally left inadequate 
in order to trace more exactly the modus operandi. Moreover, the fraud 
occurred both in the medium's waking state and during her real or 
alleged trance. 

"I do not think there is adequate reason to suppose that any of the 
phenomena at Cambridge were genuine." 

Professor Sidgwick in Journal, 8. P. R., vii:231, says: "Inasmuch as 
trickery has been systematically practised, apparently, by Eusapia 
Palladino for years, I propose to ignore her performances in the future as 
those of other persons engaged in the same mischievous trade are to be 
ignored." 

1 In "Metaphysical Phenomena," quoted by Carrington in "Eusapia 
Palladino and Her Phenomena," pp. 55-56. 

2 See p. 153, note 1. 

z "Eusapia Palladino and Her Phenomena," p. 54: ". . . there is a 
reason for the fraud that Eusapia resorted to at Cambridge, and those 



Genuine and Spurious Phenomena 155 

Of course, what he says contradicts Mr. Myers' 
statement that the control was good except on a few 
occasions when laxity was allowed. And she attempted 
trickery when the tests were as good as they could be. 
Both Mr. Myers and the Sidgwicks were present at 
Richet's sittings with Eusapia in 1894 and consequently 
knew the manner of control employed there. Why 
should they now be satisfied with laxer control? And 
they also knew that Eusapia would resort to fraud when 
the control was not sufficiently strict. Our main argu- 
ment against the critics is that they contradict or ignore 
the facts stated in the report on the experiments. 



Eusapia's reverses at Cambridge did not greatly 
shake the faith of her continental investigators and ad- 
mirers, nor of Sir Oliver Lodge. Between the years 
1895 and 1907 no less than twelve different series of 
experiments were undertaken by different savants in 
France and Italy, among whom appear besides the 
names of Lombroso, Richet and Ochorowicz, those of 
Professor Morselli, Doctors Foa and Herlitzka, M. 
Bergson, M. and Mme. Curie, Professor Botazzi and 
of many others. The Institute Gen6rale Psychologique 
of Paris arranged a series of sittings extending over 
four years (1905-1908) and including no less than 
forty-three sittings. 1 

The phenomena during this period showed little or 
no variation from those previously presented. In the 

investigators who have had much experience with her had no difficulty 
in pointing out exactly what the cause of this was. It has always been 
well known that if Eusapia were allowed to trick her sitters she would 
do so, and the policy of the English investigators had been, not to endeavor 
to prevent phenomena by rigorous control, but to allow great laxity, 
to permit her to substitute her hands when she desired, and merely note 
the results. Eusapia, finding that she could effect substitution of hands 
with ease, and apparently without detection, naturally resorted to this 
device at each seance. . . ." 

1 See Carrington, "Eusapia Palladino and Her Phenomena," pp. 57-151. 



156 Genuine and Spurious Phenomena 

beginning table-levitation, telekinesis and apport 
mainly filled the seances, later apparitions and partial 
materializations came into prominence, while a favored 
few were allowed to witness more complete materializa- 
tions and even experience the more personal and inti- 
mate phases of this marvel. 

Taken as a whole the new investigations do not in- 
spire much confidence. A number of accounts and re- 
ports impresses us above all with the credulity and 
apparently uncritical attitude of the investigators. The 
narrative often runs off in the wildest romance, the 
tables and objects no longer being moved about by in- 
visible forces, but taking life they execute a mad panto- 
mime of dancing, speaking and laughing. 

The most interesting feature of this period of in- 
vestigation is the employment of physical apparatus 
for testing the genuineness of the phenomena. Pro- 
fessor Lombroso aided by Dr. Imoda and Dr. Andenino 
held sittings in Turin in 1907, at which a "tambourine 
Marey" was placed on a table near the cabinet and con- 
nected with rubber tubes with a cardiograph in the 
cabinet and a Morse apparatus on the experiment table. 
The object in employing this apparatus was to obtain 
on the smoked surface of the "tambourine" a dia- 
grammatic registration of pressure exerted by the 
medium on the Morse key and at the same time that of 
the invisible force on the button of the cardiograph and 
to ascertain whether the two impressions would be 
synchronic. According to the report published in La 
Stampa and quoted at length by Carrington 1 the ap- 
paratus began to register at the fourth seance, drawing 
a diagram corresponding to the pressure on the cardio- 
graph in the cabinet, and this happened while the 
medium's hands were in the hands of her controllers. 
It is also stated that the distance between the medium 



lt( Eusapia Palladino and Her Phenomena," pp. 89-100; see particularly 
pp. 93 and 99-100. 



Genuine and Spurious Phenomena 157 

and the cabinet was such that it would have been im- 
possible for her to reach the cardiograph. The experi- 
ment fully convinced the reporter that the instrument 
had registered an unknown force. But as will be seen, 
the report as it stands does not offer adequate evidence 
for the absence of fraud. 1 

To begin with, the desired double registration of 
synchronic pressure, partly on the Morse key on the 
seance table, partly on the cardiograph in the cabinet, 
failed to occur. No doubt, to effect it by trickery would 
have been no easy matter. And thus we are deprived 
of an automatic record of the synchronism between the 
movements of the medium's hands or body and those 
of objects in the cabinet so frequently observed at 
Eusapia's seances. This is the more lamentable as it 
might have helped to dispel our suspicion that there is 
a more intimate relation between the two movements 
than that of mere synchronism. 

The account states that the distance between the 
medium and the cardiograph was such as to exclude 
the possibility of the medium manipulating the instru- 
ment. No doubt, the reporter has his grounds for such 
a statement. But, was the distance measured? And 
what, precisely, did it measure? We do not know, but 
at the beginning of the seance a hand issued from the 
curtain near the head of one of the controllers (who 



1 From Carrington, Op. cit., pp. 99-100: "Dr. Andenino thought sadly 
of his Marey apparatus, which for three evenings had not been used, and. 
looked to see if the smoked paper had not been touched, when suddenly 
a slight sound indicated that the needle of the apparatus was moving. 
Dr. Andenino at once put the tambourine in action, and our ears per- 
ceived for a few seconds the scratching of a pen, which made long jumps 
on the smoked surface of the tambourine in such a manner as to corre- 
spond to the pressure exerted inside on the cardiograph, tracing a curious 
and variable diagram. The cabinet was quite empty and the medium's 
hands were, as always, in the hands of the controllers. Moreover, the 
distance between the cardiograph and the medium's chair was such that, 
even had she wished to, she could not have succeeded in pressing it with 
her hands. 

"This phenomenon finally eliminates all suspicion. We have no longer 
merely the testimony or our senses, but that of a metal instrument. 



158 Genuine and Spurious Phenomena 

was further removed from it than was the medium) and 
seized his hand, and later the curtain swelled out and 
advanced to his hand. Evidently the distance between 
the sitters and the cabinet could not have been very- 
considerable, and Eusapia usually insisted upon sitting 
close to the curtain. 

Again, there is the rubber tube leading from the 
"tambourine" to the cardiograph, and a pressure on 
which would have affected the recording needle. Was 
this tube out of Eusapia's reach? The report gives us 
no information on that point. Nor does it show that 
the hand and foot control was such as to prevent 
Eusapia from resorting to her usual trick. 

In the course of his experiments with Eusapia Palla- 
dino in the same year Dr. Foa placed on the table a 
toy piano the keys of which were capable of manipula- 
tion, and covered it with a cardboard box which was 
fastened down with sealed ribbons. Of course, it 
would have been impossible for the medium to touch 
the keys unless the box were removed, a thing which 
would necessitate the breaking of the seals. The piano 
was heard to play when the lights had been turned out, 
but subsequently it was found that the box had been 
unfastened and that one of the ribbons was missing. 1 

It would be tedious to record further experiments 
with automatically recording apparatus; be it enough 
to state that in every case where the apparatus has been 
adequately protected from manipulation by the medium 
one of two things has resulted: either the protecting 
material has been broken or removed, and registration 
obtained, or else, when this could not be done, the ap- 
paratus has failed to register, and thus, there is not one 
instance of proof of absence of fraud given by means of 
automatic registration. 2 

1 See Carrington, Op. cit., pp. 101-102. 

*Ibid., pp. 103, 105, 108, and Podmore, "The Newer Spiritualism" p. 
102. 



Genuine and Spurious Phenomena 159 

The investigation undertaken by the Institute Gen- 
erate Psychologique was carried out by a committee in- 
cluding M. Jules Courtier, Secretary of the Institute, 
MM. d'Arsonval, Ballet, Richet, Perrin, M. and Mme. 
Curie and others. M. Courtier published the official re- 
port in two parts, the first of which is a collection of 
photographs taken at the sittings, while the second con- 
tains a description of the phenomena observed, a psycho- 
physiological study of the medium, an account of the 
physical conditions surrounding her, and, finally, critical 
consideration. 1 

The physical examination of Eusapia's person and 
that of the air in the cabinet failed to reveal anything 
that is not found in other mortals and their surround- 
ings. As a fact, the whole of the considerable labor of 
the members of the Institute brought to light nothing 
of a startling character, and its result was chiefly nega- 
tive. The critical part is mainly concerned with the 
unsatisfactory character of the control which Eusapia 
would allow. Rarely does she consent to have both hands 
held but insists upon holding one of them on the hand 
of her neighbor. The same is the case with her feet, 
her right foot having a sore corn which makes her un- 
able to sustain the pressure of her neighbor's foot upon 
it. And the committee is of the opinion that the only 
effective foot control would be that exerted by a per- 
son holding the medium's feet under the table. But 
Eusapia is very particular in regard to the position of 
her observers, and as a rule she will permit none under 
the table. Nor will she permit an observer behind her 
or near the scene of action, consequently the controllers 
also have to play the role of main observers, a thing 
which necessarily strains their attention, and makes 
them liable to be diverted from their control by the oc- 
currence of unexpected phenomena. Another source 

1 For summary of the phenomena see Annals of Psychical Science, 
July-Sept., 1909, pp. 400-422. See also Carrington, Op. cit., pp. 129-134. 



160 Genuine and Spurious Phenomena 

of distraction is created by Eusapia's request for con- 
versation among those present. All attempts to intro- 
duce more satisfactory conditions of test were invaria- 
bly rejected by Eusapia. 

We shall now refer to some particular observations 
of interest. 1 One night when the seance-room was dimly 
illuminated by the faint gas light from the street 
Eusapia was sitting with M. Courtier as her right and 
M. de Mech as her left control. The latter then noticed 
her freeing her right hand, at the same time placing her 
left little finger between two fingers of M. Courtier's 
left hand so as to make him believe that he had hold of 
her right thumb. At this moment a white arm was seen 
opening the curtain and a head made its appearance 
thrusting itself with a cry towards M. Courtier, who 
then felt the touch of two hands on his shoulders and 
through the curtain the contact of a face with his face. 
Eusapia had just freed herself from her two controllers, 
and so rapid were her movements that when the shock 
of being touched was over M. Courtier found her right 
hand on his left. 

At one of the seances Eusapia's chair and feet rested 
upon a platform so arranged that possible changes in 
her weight would be registered, and it was ascertained 
that for each levitation of the table or of other objects 
there was a corresponding increase in her weight. 
There were also experiments with a small balance, and 
the usual results were obtained. The balance was sur- 
rounded with a wooden frame with linen or wooden 
panels to fit, and it was not until first the panels and 
then the frame had been removed that she succeeded 
in moving the balance. When the top of the balance 
was covered with lamp-black she was unable to affect it, 
and when a balance having a disc of paper was em- 
ployed, it moved down, but the paper crackled just as 

1 Report, pp. 524-525. 



Genuine and Spurious Phenomena 161 

it would if pushed down with a stretched hair or thread. 
Once during similar experiments an isolated observer 
saw a hair between her hands. 1 

After their four years of investigation the members 
of the committee passed the verdict that whereas fraud 
had been practiced by Eusapia they hesitated to say 
that fraud is the final conclusion, and the methods of 
automatic recording occasionally employed exclude the 
possibility of hallucination as an explanatory factor. 
In general, they are of the opinion that her phenomena 
are losing in power, a result, no doubt, of her growing 
old, and that she resorts to fraud in order not to disap- 
point her clients. 

In 1908 the Society for Psychical Research decided 
to reconsider the case of Eusapia, and Mr. Carrington 
with the Honorable Everard Feilding and Mr. Baggal- 
ly, who is an amateur conjurer, went to Naples, where 
sittings were arranged with the celebrated medium. 
In all, eleven seances were held, and a stenographic 
record was kept, giving, besides an account of the phe- 
nomena as observed by the investigators, also detailed 
notes on the conditions of control, light, etc., as they 
were at the time when the different phenomena oc- 
curred. 2 

The value of the investigation, we think, has been 
justly estimated by Mr. Podmore, who writes: 3 

"The Committee are certainly not inferior in general 
capacity to any previous investigators, and their practi- 
cal experience is probably unrivaled. The record is as 
nearly as possible perfect. No other record of the 
physical phenomena of spiritualism, it may be said, is 
of any value beside it. And yet the record 

1 Report, p. 521. 

2 For the report see: Carrington, "Eusapia Palladino and Her Phe- 
nomena" pp. 152-240, and Proceedings, 8. P. R., xxiii: 309-570. 

8 "The Newer Spiritualism," p. 141. 



162 Genuine and Spurious Phenomena 

is at critical moments incomplete, and at almost every 

point leaves obvious loopholes for trickery 

The events of the three most important seances 1 can be 
readily explained if we assume, what the record itself 
seems to indicate, that a single person was hallucinated 

and a single sense, the sense of touch. We 

can not blame the individual members of the Committee. 
Rather, we must recognize that the task which they set 
themselves to perform is probably beyond human 
power. In no other field of human activity is the 
strained and unremitting exercise of every sense fac- 
ulty for several consecutive hours demanded by the cir- 
cumstances. ,, 

We regret that an adequate criticism of this highly 
interesting report would be too lengthy to find a place 
here. Mr. Podmore reaches his conclusion as to its evi- 
dential value by a process of elimination, the validity of 
which we do not think can be refuted and which we 
shall represent in its main outline. 

Of the eleven seances, eight were held with members 
of the Committee controlling the medium on both 
sides, 2 and one of those was a complete failure. 3 Dur- 
ing the three remaining seances when other persons 
were in full or partial control the greatest abundance 
of "higher" phenomena took place. 4 It is very signifi- 
cant that this latter group should show a great 
abundance of "higher" phenomena, and it may not be 
simply coincidence that it occurred when the control 
was in the hands of "outsiders." At any rate the very 
fact of "outside" control necessarily reduces the value 
of this group. 

Of the larger group one seance was a failure, leav- 
ing seven for our consideration. Of these three were 



1 Seances V, VI, VII. See Podmore, Op. cit., pp. 133 et seq. 
a Seances Mil, V-VII, IX, X. 

3 Seance X. 

4 Seances IV, VIII, XI. 



Genuine and Spurious Phenomena 163 

held with Messrs. Carrington and Feilding controll- 
ing, 1 and the remainder with the control of Mr. 
Baggally and Mr. Feilding, 2 the former having taken 
the latter's place by request of the medium, excepting 
one, when Mr. Carrington and Mr. Baggally con- 
trolled. 3 The first of these groups shows hardly any 
"higher" phenomena — the only exceptions being the 
transportation of a small table from the cabinet to the 
seance table, 4 and the appearance of a square-looking 
head on a long, black neck at a time when the Feilding 
control was interrupted. . The transportation of the 
table took place when the light was lowered to a degree 
allowing the sitters to "distinguish merely the outlines 

1 MIL 

a V-VIL 

3 IX. 

4 The following description is given in the report, quoted from Carrington, 
Op. cit., pp. 175 et seq. : 

(Eusapia's legs were tied by means of ropes to the chairs of the con- 
trollers, the ropes being first passed round each ankle, knotted, and then 
carried to the chair legs, where they were securely fastened. — Op. cit., pp. 
172-173— Feilding (F) right control, Carrington (C) left.) "11:30 P. M. 

C. — The left curtain has blown right out on to the table. 

C. — My right hand was under the table firmly holding the medium's 
left hand. 

F. — I have hold of her right hand continuously in her lap. 

C. — Medium holds my right hand firmly. 

F. — The medium kicks with her right foot violently on mine. 

C. — She kicks with her left foot also. 

C. — Her left hand raises my riffht hand towards the curtain. 

F. — Objects in the cabinet rattle on the table. 

F. — Medium asks me to put my left arm on her shoulder. Her right 
arm is around my neck. 

C. — With her left hand medium is holding my right hand on the 
table. 

C. — Objects in the cabinet fall over on the table. She grasped my 
right hand firmly in her left hand at the time this was going on and 
pressed on my right foot with her left foot. 

F. — I held her right hand on the table with my left and the tips of 
both her feet under the table with my right hand. 

C. — My left hand holds her head. I am holding her left hand in my 
right. 

"Immediately after this, the small table, which had been placed in the 
cabinet and upon which rested the various musical instruments, climbed 
up of its own accord on to the seance table. It came up, remaining behind 
the curtains, so that it was invisible. Several objects remained on the 
surface of the table — kept there by the pressure of the curtain upon them. 
It came up at an angle of about forty-five degrees, and, while it was en- 



164 Genuine and Spurious Phenomena 

of the medium's body, and the details of her head and 
hand upon close inspection. ,, 1 

Mr. Carrington in his "Physical Phenomena of 
Spiritualism" gives a number of interesting examples 
of the skill of conjurers in untying and tying ropes 
with which they have been bound. 2 With a little skill 
in the art Eusapia could have freed herself, and this 
may well have taken place when the kicking occurred. 
Under such circumstances she could have used one foot 
with which to bring about the phenomena. Now, it 
is true that Mr. Feilding is on record as having held the 
tips of her feet — but, perhaps, one of her shoes was 
empty. 

deavoring to clamber up on the seance table by a series of jerks, I placed 
my hand and elbow upon its surface and pressed downward in an at- 
tempt to force it to the floor. I experienced a peculiar elastic resistance, 
however, as though the table were strung on rubber bands and was un- 
able to force it downward. I continued this struggle for several seconds, 
then yielded and allowed the table to clamber on to our seance table, 
which it almost succeeded in doing. While this was happening, we veri- 
fied, several times, that our control of head, hands, elbows, feet and knees 
was secure." 

1 Carrington, Op. cit., p. 175. 

2 pp. 143 et seq. The following is a description of the Davenport 
Brothers' performance (pp. 154-155) : "The first task is the binding of 
the two Americans. All present agree in selecting, for the performance 
of this delicate task, a veteran naval officer, who is expert in knots of 
every description, and in whose skill every one appears to have the ut- 
most confidence." The ropes are tested and the men searched. "The 
Americans step into the cabinet, and place themselves on the seats to 
which they are to be tied. Our naval representative takes a cord, marks 
it, to make sure that there is no substitution ; he takes note of its precise 
length, and then, by means of regular 'sailors' knots,' hitherto reputed 
invincible, he ties up, first one brother, then the other. He pinions their 
arms to their sides, ties their legs firmly together; in fact, he so ties and 
lashes them to their seats and to the cross rails, that every one regards 
the defeat of the Americans as a foregone conclusion; they must, beyond 
a doubt, be driven to cry for quarter." . . . Scarcely have the doors 
to the cabinet been closed, "than we see appear . . . the arms of the 
right hand prisoner — still rosy with the friction of the famous 'sailors' 
knots.' ... A little later, and the three doors (to the cabinet) are 
opened. We see the two brothers, with smiling countenances, step down 
from the cabinet freed from their bonds, which they now carry in their 
hands. More than ten minutes had been occupied in tying them up; a 
single minute had sufficed for their release. 

"The first feat concluded, the young men again step into the cabinet, 
and take their seats. The cords are laid in a heap at their feet, and the 
doors closed. Two minutes later, the doors are opened, and we find the 
mediums again in bondage." 



Genuine and Spurious Phenomena 165 

The second group has three seances with "higher" 
phenomena, and one, when Mr. Carrington had taken 
Mr. Feilding's place, completely devoid of them. 1 
Throughout the three seances the higher phenomena 
occurred on the right side of the medium, which was 
controlled by Mr. Baggally. They all occurred within 
reach of Eusapia's right hand and foot, and conse- 
quently could be the result of trickery on her part if 
we assume that Mr. Baggally was deceived in think- 
ing that he was in touch with her limbs in question. 
Mr. Podmore gives three reasons for thinking that 
this was actually the case. 2 First, Eusapia's right hand 
is reported as resting on or upon Mr. Baggally's left 
hand, while her left generally is securely held by the 
other controller. Secondly, on many occasions the 
curtain was covering his arm and hand or he was hold- 
ing the medium's hand through or under it. These 
two circumstances can not fail to have weakened Mr. 
Baggally's control, and consequently to have aided 
Eusapia in fraudulent performances with her right 
hand. Finally, she was often found to go through the 
well-known preliminaries for substitution of hands, and 
this occurred just before the phenomena were observed. 
Taken all in all these circumstances can not fail to 
force us to admit that there is not sufficient evidence to 
deny the possibility of fraud in the seances. 3 



Mr. Carrington, being anxious to establish the genu- 
ineness of Eusapia's phenomena before savants of the 
United States, brought her to New York in 1909, where 
several sittings were held towards the end of that year 
and in the beginning of 1910. At the first sittings on 
December 13, 16 and 18 there were present Mr. G. B. 

1 No. IX. 

2 "The Neiver Spiritualism," pp. 133-135. 

3 This opinion is upheld also by Mr. W. S. Davis; see Am. Journal. 
8. P. R., iv: 401-424. 



166 Genuine and Spurious Phenomena 

Dorr, Professor Hugo Munsterberg and others, Pro- 
fessor Trowbridge of Princeton taking part in the 
second seance. 1 The phenomena consisted mainly of 
levitations of the table, movement of objects from the 
cabinet, swelling of the curtain and touches. The levi- 
tations took place in good light, but the rest of the phe- 
nomena occurred when the light was so poor that ob- 
jects were hardly discernible. 2 

After the first two seances the sitters were quite puz- 
zled, and unable to explain what they had witnessed. 
During the third seance while Professor Miinster- 
berg was controlling on the left a young man had, un- 
seen by the medium, crawled upon the floor into the 
cabinet, where he saw Eusapia's left foot fishing about 
for objects. He immediately seized the foot, Eusapia 
let out a yell and the seance was broken up. It is inter- 
esting to note that while Eusapia's foot actually was 
in the cabinet Professor Munsterberg continuously felt 
the pressure thereof on his right foot. In his article he 
states that the medium had lifted her foot freed from 
the shoe to the height of his arm and was fishing with 
it in the cabinet. On the strength of this statement we 
would think that what he felt pressing against his foot 
was Eusapia's empty shoe. But Mr. Carrington 3 re- 
fers to a letter from the man who caught her foot, and 
who is not at all sure that her heel was bare, and fur- 
thermore states that the foot as a matter of fact was 
not bare. We can not settle the disputed point, but 
the fact is nevertheless significant, and should be noted 
that while her foot was actually free, Professor 
Munsterberg had the definite sensation of touch with 
it. 



*G. B. Dorr in Journal, 8. P. R., xiv:267 et seq.; Prof. Hyslop in Am. 
Journal, 8. P. R., iv:169; Hugo Miinsterberg in The Metropolitan Maga- 
zine, Vol. 31, No. 5, pp. 559-572 (Feb. 1910); Flournoy, "Spiritism and 
Psychology" p. 282, and Carrington's Introduction, pp. 16, 17; Hyslop, 
"Eusapia Palladino" ; Podmore, "The Newer Spiritualism," p. 143. 

2 Journal, 8. P. R., xiv:2C8. 

3 Flournoy, "Spiritism and Psychology," p. 284, translator's note. 



Genuine and Spurious Phenomena 167 

In April new sittings were held in the house of Pro- 
fessor Lord of Columbia University, 1 and while 
Eusapia's attention was drawn in other directions two 
controllers secreted themselves on the floor under the 
table where they could observe how Eusapia un- 
noticed by the ordinary controllers would free one foot, 
and with it perform the phenomena of table levitation, 
swelling of the curtain, movement of objects in the 
cabinet, and so on. There, at least, we have positive 
proof of fraudulent production, gained by the fact that 
Eusapia was unaware of the presence of the controllers 
under the table. 



A new series of five sittings was held in Naples in 
November and December, 1910. 2 The first of these, 
attended by Count and Countess Solovovo and Mr. 
Feilding, was a failure, and the phenomena observed in 
the third, fourth and fifth were in the opinion of three 
sitters mainly, and in that of Mr. W. Marriott wholly, 
fraudulent. The second seance showed only insignifi- 
cant phenomena and led to no conclusion. 

During the sittings Eusapia was noticed to shake 
the curtain, throw it over her shoulder, pull at it with 
her hands or elbow, and kick it. She would use her 
left foot for producing the phenomenon of touch and 
for moving objects, while her elbow was employed for 
upsetting the cabinet-table. There is a curious ex- 
ample of her releasing one hand without effecting sub- 
stitution. Mr. Feilding and Mr. Marriott distinctly 
saw Eusapia removing her hand from its position rest- 
ing upon the back of Countess Solovovo's hand, on the 
table and under the curtain. Yet, the Countess had 
the distinct impression of its continuous grasp. 3 Count 

1 Collier's Weekly, May 14, 1910. 
1 Proceedings, 8. P. R., xxv: 57-69. 
8 Ibid., p. 58. 



168 Genuine and Spurious Phenomena 

Solovovo ascribes this fact to tactile hallucination in- 
duced by the medium, 1 whereas Miss Alice Johnson 
thinks it was due to a "negative hallucination," an 
everyday fact, whereby the sensation of touch often will 
remain for some time after actual contact with an object 
has ceased. 2 Whatever may be the explanation, the fact 
remains, and is of greatest value in showing the unsatis- 
factory character of tactile control. 



We have devoted considerable space to the investi- 
gations of Eusapia Palladino's mediumship. As will 
have been seen the twenty years of labor expended 
upon a study of her phenomena has failed to bring 
positive evidence for their ever being genuine. On the 
other hand, while fraud and fraudulent methods have 
been found in abundance, we can not positively say 
that all the phenomena are spurious. Nevertheless, 
while granting so much, we think that there is a very 
strong argument for the probability that not a single 
phenomenon exhibited by the medium was genuine. 

First of all, the usual method of control employed 
at her seances is fully inadequate for preventing fraud 
being successfully practiced. This has been pointed 
out in detail in connection with the investigation by the 
Institute of Paris. She invariably dictates the con- 
ditions of control, providing for one hand and foot be- 
ing freed, and preventing observers from placing them- 
selves in inconvenient positions to her. It is impossible 
for the two controllers, whose duty it is to watch her 
hands and feet, to fulfill this duty and at the same time 
observe the phenomena. She generally refuses to sub- 
mit to methods which would prevent her using her legs 
and feet in the performances, such as screens placed 
round her knees and feet, or, when she submits to them, 
phenomena cease to occur. 

1 Op. cit., p. 60. 

2 Ibid., p. 67-68. 



Genuine and Spurious Phenomena 169 

Only a few phenomena take place in good or toler- 
able light — chiefly table levitation and telekinesis. The 
majority are exhibited in almost complete darkness 
when the inadequacy of the control is greatly increased. 

The cabinet will always remain a source of suspicion, 
and in Eusapia's case not only do the best phenomena 
originate in the cabinet, but they grow stronger the 
closer she sits to the cabinet. 1 She will not allow an 
observer in the cabinet, nor between her and it. The 
curtains play an important role in her performances, 
their swelling out till they touch and envelop the 
medium or one of the controllers, or at least their hands 
and arms, often being a preliminary to other phe- 
nomena. Touches and blows are usually administered 
through the curtain. Furthermore, her dress seems to 
partake in the function of the curtains; at least up to 
the Naples seances in 1908 table levitation could not 
be obtained unless her dress was in contact with one 
of the legs of the table. 

At times photographic control has been employed, 
and as often as the photographs have revealed ap- 
parently genuine phenomena the arrangements in their 
making have been directed by Eusapia. But the 
fallacy of photographic control will be shown by the 
following incident. The Committee of the Institute 
was making photographs of levitations of objects, 
which are reproduced in its report. There are three 
photographs taken from a position facing the medium 
and showing a foot-stool against the background of 
the dark curtain apparently floating above the head of 
the medium. But a fourth photograph taken at the 
same moment as the third, but from the side, shows 
the same stool resting on her head. She ceased to 
levitate the foot-stool after this exposure. 2 



1 Carrington admits this — "Eusapia Palladino and Her Phenomena/ 
p. 329. 

2 Podmore, "The Newer Spiritualism" p. 106. 



170 Genuine and Spurious Phenomena 

The phenomena occur at Eusapia's will or at the will 
of "John King" and are often announced a moment be- 
fore their occurrence. Mostly they are exhibited so 
near the medium that she could easily have effected 
them with her hands or feet. There is not a single 
phenomenon on record which could not in itself have 
been reproduced by a conjurer, occasionally with the 
aid of insignificant apparatus. 

Eusapia's methods of trickery, including that of 
substitution of hands and feet, when detected by her 
observers has revealed a skill which would postulate 
years of training. This was the opinion of the Cam- 
bridge investigators. When phenomena occur her 
body executes convulsive movements which would 
largely conceal fraud on her part. 

The abundance and quality of her phenomena de- 
pend upon the constitution of her audience. With 
French and Italian controllers and observers they have 
reached a greater height than with those of the more 
phlegmatic temperament of the Englishman. During 
the Naples seances in 1908 hardly a single phenomenon 
of importance occurred while Mr. Carrington was in 
control. The first sittings with a certain audience are 
never as good as subsequent ones, and they improve 
gradually, in proportion as the sitters gain conviction 
in her favor. It would seem that she depends for her 
success upon the benevolent frame of mind of her ob- 
servers. Gradually she convinces them that her phe- 
nomena are genuine, and thus, gradually she puts them 
off their guard and influences their imagination. That 
she depends on psychological causes for her success 
will be shown by the fact that she has been caught in 
fraudulent production with her hands and feet while 
her controllers were convinced that they were in touch 
with theirs. We refer to her fishing in the cabinet 
with her right foot, at the New York sittings, while 
Professor Miinsterberg was certain that he felt this 



Genuine and Spurious Phenomena 171 

same foot pressing against his, and Mr. Carrington de- 
clares that the foot in question, when caught, was in 
its shoe; and to her performance with her hand in 
Naples in 1910, while Countess Solovovo had the dis- 
tinct impression of its being held against hers. It has 
been frequently recorded that a pressure of her hands 
and feet against those of her controller precede her 
phenomena. 

Finally all experiments undertaken with automati- 
cally registering apparatus of one kind or other, so con- 
structed that manipulation would be excluded or re- 
corded, have either failed to show even the slightest 
symptoms of phenomena, or else recorded that fraud 
had been perpetrated. 



The phenomena of materialization have been ex- 
hibited by a great many physical mediums under the 
ordinary conditions of test, and perhaps the most re- 
markable case is that of Katie King, Sir William 
Crookes' spirit-guest. While other "materialized 
spirits" have made their appearance in seance-rooms 
merely to be seen for a moment, and to deliver some 
message, Katie, in apparently full human form and 
with all the properties of life, would remain with Sir 
William for hours, allow herself to be touched and 
photographed — and also kissed — and engage in the 
most natural manner in the conversation of the com- 
pany. 

The very idea of a spirit being "materialized" into 
such complete human likeness, including clothing to all 
appearances of the same description as the productions 
of human dressmakers, would make one inclined to re- 
ject the whole affair as a bold imposture, were it not 
for the testimony of so eminent a scientist as Sir Wil- 
liam, and it is because of his testimony, and only on 
that ground, that we think the case should be given a 
full and close consideration. 



172 Genuine and Spurious Phenomena 

We are not here concerned with the question of the 
possibility of the phenomenon as presented in the ac- 
counts published by Sir William, for no more here 
than in regard to other physical phenomena are we able 
or justified in dogmatizing. In accordance with the 
principles we have stated before we wish to establish 
whether or not the evidence at hand gives positive 
proof that the phenomenon is genuine. And in Sir 
William's own words the question, in so far as we can 
see it, resolves itself to this, whether "when the form 
which calls itself 'Katie' is visible in the room, the body 
of Miss Cook is ... . actually in the cabinet or is 
not there." 1 

The first seance reported by Sir William was held 
in the house of Mr. Luxmore, the cabinet being a back 
drawing-room separated by a curtain from the front 
room where the company was sitting. The cabinet hav- 
ing been examined Miss Cook entered it, and "after 
a little time the form Katie appeared at the side of the 
curtain, but soon retreated, saying her medium was not 
well, and could not be put into a sufficiently deep sleep 
to make it safe for her to be left." 

Sir William admits that the figure was startlingly 
life-like and in the dim light prevailing resembled Miss 
Cook. But he finds sufficient evidence to prove that 
the phenomenon was not a case of impersonation by 
Miss Cook in the fact that "a sobbing, moaning sound, 
identical with that which Miss Cook had been making 
at intervals the whole time of the seance, came from be- 
hind the curtain where the young lady was supposed 
to be sitting." This evidence he considers unshakable. 2 
To our mind this greatly weakens the value of any 
evidence put forth by Sir William, who ought to have 
known that by some skill in ventriloquism Miss Cook 
could easily have staged the marvel. 

1 Researches, etc., p. 102. 

2 Ibid., pp. 102-3. 



Genuine and Spurious Phenomena 173 

Sir William presents the following cases as giving 
"absolute proof" of Katie and Miss Cook being two 
separate material beings. 

The first case is that of a seance of March 12, 1874, 
held in Sir William's home, 1 the library serving as 
cabinet. Having retired to the cabinet after some time 
of conversation with the sitters Katie again appeared 
at the curtain and asked Sir William to come into the 
library and lift her medium's head. The cabinet was 
dark and Katie was clothed in her white robes and 
turban. Sir William writes: "I immediately walked 
into the library up to Miss Cook, Katie stepping aside 
to allow me to pass. I found Miss Cook had slipped 
partially off the sofa, and her head was hanging in a 
very awkward position. I lifted her onto the sofa, and 
in so doing had satisfactory evidence, in spite of the 
darkness, that Miss Cook was not attired in the 'Katie' 
costume, but had on her ordinary black velvet dress, 
and was in a deep trance. Not more than three seconds 
elapsed between my seeing the white-robed Katie 
standing before me and my raising Miss Cook onto the 
sofa from the position into which she had fallen." 2 
Katie reappeared upon Sir William's returning to his 
post of observation. 

First of all, the cabinet was dark, and it necessarily 
must have taken Sir William some time to reach the 
couch on which Miss Cook was found lying. He esti- 
mated this time to be at the most three seconds, but he 
did not verify this by his watch — he could not have 
verified it in the darkness. Supposing that the Katie 
who met him at the curtain in reality was Miss Cook 
attired in a turban and with a white robe over her black 
velvet dress, what would have prevented her from 
hastily discarding the "Katie dress" and flinging her- 
self upon the couch before it could be reached by Sir 

1 Researches, etc., pp. 105-107. 
3 Ibid., p. 105. 



174 Genuine and Spurious Phenomena 

William, and then, upon that gentleman's leaving the 
cabinet, again assuming it? The hypothesis presup- 
poses nothing beyond a little alertness on her part. 

Katie then promised to show herself together with 
the medium, and Sir William again entered the cabinet 
illuminated by a phosphorus lamp. But all he saw was 
Miss Cook, Katie having completely disappeared. 

The second case is recorded from a seance at Hack- 
ney on March 29th the same year. Katie had been 
walking about the room for nearly two hours, during 
which time she had taken Sir William's arm on several 
occasions and even allowed him to embrace her. He 
testifies that there was nothing to suggest that he did 
not hold a young lady in his arms. Finally, carrying 
the phosphorus lamp in his hand, he followed Katie 
into the cabinet, where he began to feel about for Miss 
Cook, whom he then found in her black costume crouch- 
ing on the floor and to all appearances senseless. Then 
raising the lamp he saw "Katie standing close behind 
Miss Cook. She was robed in flowing white drapery 
as (he) had seen her previously during the seance/' 
Holding Miss Cook's hand he now three times moved 
the lamp from one figure to the other, satisfying him- 
self that it was really a living woman lying before him 
and that the white-robed form had an objective reality. 
Moreover, he saw Katie's face when she moved and 
smiled on him. Finally, upon a sign from Katie, he 
left the cabinet. 1 

Let us first note that the seances usually were held 
in Sir William's home, but that this particular one was 
given in a house in Hackney. We are told nothing re- 
garding the arrangement of the seance-room and the 
cabinet doors, windows, etc. During the previous 
seances Sir William had become convinced of Katie's 
identity. In order to present proof to the public he 

1 Researches, etc., pp. 105-107. 



Genuine and Spurious Phenomena 175 

was desirous of being able to give a record of having 
seen Miss Cook and Katie simultaneously, and Katie 
had promised to show herself together with Miss Cook. 
There is absolutely nothing to show that Miss Cook 
did not have a confederate introduced into the cabinet 
at the proper moment, and the role the confederate 
would have to play was an easy one. She did not have 
to move or talk, but merely in the light from a phos- 
phorus lamp look like a girl draped in white, smile, and, 
upon sign from Miss Cook, dismiss Sir William with 
a gesture. Absolutely any young woman could have 
done it. 

In a previous chapter we have referred to photo- 
graphs taken both of Miss Cook and of Katie, which 
show slight differences in the bodily structure of the 
"two ladies." How easily this could have been ar- 
ranged, by stretching, tip -toeing or slightly bending 
the knees, and by turning the face differently for differ- 
ent exposures, seems almost superfluous to point out. 

In the whole of the evidence presented by Sir Wil- 
liam to prove that Katie King was not identical with 
Miss Cook, or, at least on one occasion, with a con- 
federate, there is nothing whatsoever to carry con- 
viction. 

The phantom of the Villa Carmen showed the same 
likeness to life as did Katie King. 1 Prof. Richet in 
his report says that it was not the medium disguised, 
nor a confederate parading in Arab costume, and af- 

1 Richet in The Annals of Psychical Science, Oct. -Nov., 1905, says (pp. 
269-270): "This personality is neither an image reflected by a mirror, 
nor a doll, nor a manikin. Indeed, it possesses all the attributes of life. 
I have seen it emerge from the cabinet, walk, go, and come into the room. 
I have heard the sound of its footsteps, its breathing, and its voice. This 
hand was articulated, warm, flexible; I have been enabled through the 
drapery with which it was covered to feel the wrist, the carpal and the 
metacarpal bones. . . . The phantom also blew through an India- 
rubber tube into a flask of barite water, which bubbled, proving that 
the respiration of this phantom produced carbonic acid . . ." 



176 Genuine and Spurious Phenomena 

firms that he took all necessary precautions against 
fraud, but he fails to give us the details of these pre- 
cautions. 

At the time of the experiment with the barite water, 
Aischa, the negress, was sitting, supposedly with Mile. 
Marthe, in the cabinet, and when Bien Boa, standing 
inside the cabinet and close to the curtain, bent for- 
ward to blow into the water, Richet says that he "dis- 
tinguished clearly Aischa seated far away from Bien 
Boa, and Marthe." He goes on to say: "I could not 
see Marthe's face very well; but I recognized the skirt 
and the chemisette she was wearing, and I saw her 
hands." 1 M. Delanne, however, saw Marthe's face. 

Even granting that Marthe did sit in the cabinet 
while this took place, we must not leave out of sight 
the fact that she had smaller sisters who might easily 
have been introduced into the cabinet. The photo- 
graphs appended to M. Richet's report overwhelm- 
ingly suggest a rather crude amateur make-up. The 
one opposite p. 276 shows a big form before the opening 
of the curtain, resembling a bed sheet, and the arm of 
a girl seated at some distance. The next 2 gives the 
picture of a face with black beard and "pickelhaube" 
covered with a sheet. Both beard and "pickelhaube" 
may have originated in Nuremberg in so far as appear- 
ances are concerned. Facing the following page is a 
photograph showing the same figure of Bien Boa stand- 
ing in the opening of the cabinet, and also Aischa seated 
in a chair within. There is no photograph giving a clear 
view of the whole trio. 

There is only one way to prove the reality of ma- 
terialization, and it is amazingly simple. After the 
materialized form has appeared, let it be isolated from 
the medium and investigated while the cabinet at the 
same time is subjected to a separate scrutiny. If Katie 

1 Ibid., p. 270. 
3 Opposite p. 280. 



Genuine and Spurious Phenomena 177 

King or Bien Boa had dematerialized in the hands of 
their investigators after the cabinet had been thoroughly- 
searched and the medium (if there) examined, we 
should have believed. But now we believe not. 



We have saved the case of W. Stainton-Moses till 
the last. It is very difficult to pronounce upon his phe- 
nomena, for there are no other records than his own 
and those made by members of the Spear family from 
his dictation while in trance. 1 He was never subjected 
to scientific investigation — was never even controlled 
during his performances. Our only evidence for his 
phenomena, then, is his own authority and that of the 
Spears. 

Ordinarily this fact would dismiss his case as purely 
unevidential. But when we take into account the char- 
acter of Mr. Moses as a clergyman of the Church of 
England, an Oxford man, and a scholar, known by all 
who came in contact with him as a gentleman through 
and through, 2 it would seem incredible that at any 
time he could have resorted to deliberate fraud. And 
furthermore, there would have been no purpose in his 
defrauding, for he never gave public seances and drew 
no advantages from his spiritistic career. 

Mr. Myers considers his phenomena genuine, 3 and 
no doubt, on account of his close acquaintance with 
Moses, has a right to his opinion. Podmore, on the 
other hand, refuses to admit their supernormal causa- 
tion, but at the same time allows for the absence of de- 
liberate deception in so far as Moses is concerned. He 
reminds us, however, of the presence of young children 

1 The following are the records of Moses* seances now in existence : 
"Spirit Identity," by W. S. Moses — out of print; "Human Nature," con- 
temporary numbers; Mrs. Spear's Notes in "Light"; Posthumous papers 
in Proceedings, 8. P. B., vols, ix and xi. 

2 See F. W. H. Myers' sketch in Proceedings, 8. P. R., viii: 597-669. 

s "Human Personality," vol. II, pp. 223-37, 540-41, 546-49, 551-54, 583- 
87, etc. 



178 Genuine and Spurious Phenomena 

in the house of Dr. Spear, suggesting that they might 
have had a hand in the spirit maneuvers. 1 

The more we study the Moses case, the more we come 
to the conviction that if it should be accepted as ex- 
hibiting anything, it is a typical case of self-delusion on 
the part of the medium, or, in inadequate terms, of un- 
conscious deception. For while there is nothing to 
show that the phenomena were ever genuine, nor that 
they exceed the possibilities of ordinary manipulation, 
there is all reason to believe that Mr. Moses would not 
have lowered himself to conscious deception. We shall 
return to his case in a later chapter. 



Our brief survey so far has shown, we think, the ab- 
sence of positive evidence for genuine physical phe- 
nomena. The psychical phenomena show a very differ- 
ent aspect. Entering upon them we are no longer con- 
cerned with the possible substitution of mechanical 
action for the claimed or supposed action of unknown 
forces or spirits, but confronted with phenomena of a 
mental order the reality of which can be verified only 
from the accounts of those who experience them. 

Automatic writing and speaking constitute the main 
and most interesting phenomena in this group, and in 
so far as the rest are concerned their actuality is no 
longer questioned. As we have already said, these lat- 
ter phenomena do not properly belong to Spiritism, 
and they find their natural explanation outside of 
spiritistic theories. 

In our investigation of the psychical phenomena we 
shall, therefore, confine ourselves to those known as 
automatic speaking and writing. Of course, there are 
fraudulent mediums who obtain their knowledge from 
natural sources, and even simulate the state of trance. 

1 "Studies, etc," pp. 116-133; "Modern Spiritualism," vol. II, pp. 280- 
288. 



Genuine and Spurious Phenomena 179 

Yet, a study of the records of automatic script and 
utterance will convince the unprejudiced inquirer that 
all is not fraud or coincidence. 1 

If we discard, then, undoubtedly numerous cases of 
simulated trance and of intelligence obtained from 
mediums' blue books or from other sources and de- 
liberately given out in the form of messages from the 
dead, we find a residue of instances in which the trance- 
state is genuine and the intelligence given automati- 
cally, at least without any intention to defraud on the 
part of the medium. All investigators of the Piper 
case rank it in this class, 2 to which we should prefer to 
add those of Mr. Moses, Mrs. Thompson, 3 the Verralls, 
Mrs. Holland and Mrs. Forbes, not excluding other 
cases not mentioned in this treatise. In face of what 
is generally accepted as a fact a discussion of this point 
would be to no purpose. 

So far we have termed the phenomena genuine with- 
out considering their actual cause. The intelligence 
usually purports to come from persons departed and 
this point in itself is still open to debate. The en- 
tranced medium is in an abnormal condition in which 
other personalities than the normal waking self appear, 
and it is in the state of trance that the messages take 
form and are delivered. Whatever may be their actual, 

*Mr. Podmore says {"The Newer Spiritualism," pp. 145-146): "I 
should, perhaps, state at the outset, as emphatically as possible, that it 
seems to me incredible that fraud should be the sole explanation of the 
revelations made in trance and automatic writing. No one who has made 
a careful study of the records and is sufficiently free from prepossession to 
enable him to form an honest opinion, will believe that any imaginable 
exercise of fraudulent ingenuity, supplemented by whatever opportune- 
ness of coincidence and laxness on the part of the investigators, could con- 
ceivably explain the whole of these communications." 

2 Podmore in Proceedings, S. P. R., xiv: 50-78; Mrs. Sidgwick in Ibid., 
xv : 16-38; Andrew Lang in Ibid., xv: 39-52; Prof. W. R. Newbold in Ibid., 
xiv: 6-49; Dr. Hodgson in Ibid., xiii:248 et seq. To these may be added 
the testimony of Lodge, W. Leaf, William James, Profs. Hyslop and Sidg- 
wick, Myers, Pvichet and others. 

3 Dr. Hodgson accuses Mrs. Thompson of fraud ( see Proceedings, 8. 
P. R., xvii : 138-161 ) but even to Podmore this accusation seems unwar- 
ranted (see "The Newer Spiritualism," p. 158). 



180 Genuine and Spurious Phenomena 

objective source, their subjective reality, as found in 
the mind of the medium, corresponds to their expres- 
sion in speech or in script. In this degree, then, we feel 
justified in accepting the records as genuine a priori, 
and the problem confronting us will be to determine, 
from a study of their contents, whether the messages 
could have a natural source or whether they give posi- 
tive proof of preternatural origin. Obviously here, as 
in the case of the physical phenomena, we can not ac- 
cept a preternatural element in the absence of positive 
proof. But before proceeding to such inquiry we shall 
consider certain facts and theories which would con- 
tribute to the elucidation of the matter before us. 



CHAPTER VI. 

Spiritism and Psychology. 

The phenomena of Spiritism which are not obviously- 
associated with deliberate fraud are invariably pro- 
duced in the presence of certain individuals known as 
mediums. Considering therefore the phenomena in gen- 
eral as mediumistic, that is to say as depending upon 
certain individuals in the absence of whom they do not 
occur, we find in them a striking analogy with phe- 
nomena, in themselves of an obviously natural order, 
appearing in abnormal mental states and with hypno- 
tized persons, such as, besides the hypnotic state itself, 
cases of suggestion, dissociation of the personality, 
automatism, thought transference, clairvoyance, etc. 
There are then to all appearances, and in so far at least 
as their association is concerned, two analogous orders 
of phenomena, those of Spiritism and those pertaining 
to the realm of psychology, and in order to appreciate 
and arrive at a conclusion regarding the nature of the 
former we propose to institute a comparative study of 
both. 

While the constitution of our psychical life, or per- 
haps more definitely of our own personality or Ego, 
and the relation of its varied phenomena to purely 
psychical or psycho-physiological causes has not in all 
its details and aspects been scientifically established, and 
we therefore are unable to reason from thoroughly 
known principles, the ensemble of authenticated phe- 
nomenal facts has been incorporated in theories, the 
tentative acceptance of one or other of which becomes 
necessary for an intelligent treatment of the subject. 
The authenticated facts, however, have a probative 
value independently of the theories in which they are 



182 Spiritism and Psychology 

found incorporated, and while it may become not only 
convenient but necessary to employ the terminology 
they furnish, we base our conclusions, not upon the 
hypothetical principles implied in the terminology, but 
upon the facts themselves upon which they rest. 

It is not our intention to enter on speculation regard- 
ing human personality; whatever may be the different 
conclusions of various schools of psychology, we ac- 
cept the principle of an individual and personal unity 
of the Ego, at the same time admitting the complexity 
of its constitution. This admission forms the basis of 
two different theories regarding the constitution of the 
Ego which we shall present prior to some of the facts 
upon which they are based. 

The most ordinary everyday experience tells us not 
only of the complex nature of the Ego, but shows that 
what goes to make up my own Self is broader than that 
self of which at any given moment I am conscious. As 
a fact, the conscious Self embraces but a small portion 
of the whole Ego, which includes not only conscious 
thought, memory, experience and action, but also im- 
pressions non-consciously received and later perhaps 
emerging into consciousness, latent memory of what 
formerly was conscious, certain processes of association 
of ideas, and largely that whole, incessant activity 
which goes to make up the ensemble of vital function. 

We shall briefly state two theories which we have 
found helpful in coordinating and systematizing the 
psychological phenomena to which we have referred. 
Dr. Grasset's system of "polygonal psychology" treats 
the question of human personality from a psycho- 
physiological point of view, while that of Frederic 
Myers, the theory of the "subliminal self," deals with 
the subject more purely psychologically. In main they 
follow the same leading outlines, admitting in the Ego 
a fluctuating interaction between its normally con- 
scious and subconscious strata. 



Spiritism and Psychology 183 

Mr. Myers 1 considers a human being as a spiritual 
and permanent entity, a soul, of which our conscious 
self is but a small portion. This entity he compares to 
a solar spectrum the visible region of which is extended 
at both ends in the extra violet and the ultra red rays. 
Similarly our supraliminal or ordinary consciousness, 
constituting a small proportion of the whole self and 
particularly adapted to terrestrial life, is extended on 
the one side in inferior faculties now lost, but formerly 
at the disposal of our ancestors, i. e., the power to in- 
fluence physiological functions at will, on the other in 
superior faculties of which we do not have free use in 
this existence but which occasionally manifest them- 
selves, such as clairvoyance, lucidity, etc. These two 
extensions form the subliminal part of ourselves. The 
limen or border, dividing the supraliminal from the 
subliminal is, however, not impervious, but there are 
constant fluxes between the two orders. 

The author of this theory begins his argument with 
a study of disintegration of personality, observed in 
obsession, subconscious ideas, hypnotic phenomena, 
secondary states of consciousness, etc., which bespeak 
a regressive process inverse to the process of evolution 
by which he thinks human personality has come into 
being. Genius shows upshots of the subliminal into the 
supraliminal consciousness; in sleep supraliminal func- 
tions are suspended and our being recruits its strength 
from the metetherical world, which is the source of all 
energy; and finally hypnotism, an experimental de- 
velopment of sleep, increases the subliminal vitalization 
of the organism. Suggestion Myers defines as "a suc- 
cessful appeal to the subliminal self." The different 
forms of automatism as well as telepathy and clairvoy- 
ance are the functions of the subliminal self, ac- 
centuated in sleep and particularly in hypnotic trance. 

1 The theory is stated and elaborated in "Human Personality." 



184 Spiritism and Psychology 

We shall not follow Myers in the ultimate develop- 
ment of his theory leading to notions such as the dis- 
sociation of segments of the subliminal self and their 
subsequent impression at distance of other personali- 
ties (psychical invasion) or rapport with material 
things in clairvoyance, or, again, the establishing of 
phantasmogenetic centers (collective hallucinations) ; 
nor in his ultimate conclusion regarding intercommuni- 
cation with the departed. In these things his theories 
go far beyond the warrant of the facts and lose them- 
selves in speculation. 

Dr. Grasset 1 abandons the purely psychological 
ground for a hypothesis which would cover and arrange 
the facts, and refers them rather to a psycho-physiologi- 
cal structure. His theory is represented in an upper 
psychical center, O, dominating a polygon of lower 
psychical centers. 2 The O represents the upper 
psychical center of conscious personality — free will, 
the responsible Ego — the cerebral cortex of the pre- 
frontal lobe. The polygon consists of the lower 
psychical centers, both motor (kinesthetic, speech and 
writing) and sensory (auditory, visual and tactile), 
which are connected with their respective centrifugal 
and centripetal organs, and interconnected by intra- 
polygonal organs. 

Psychical acts are partly voluntary and conscious, 
partly involuntary and unconscious, corresponding to 
the two groups of psychical centers and neurones both 
located in the cerebral mind, viz., the upper center O, 
and the lower or polygonal centers. The whole 
psychism participates in the management of life in the 
physiological state,, but when under certain circum- 
stances the two orders of psychism are separated — 
hyper polygonal disaggregation — interaction wholly or 
partially ceases. Such disaggregation is found in sleep, 

1 In "The Marvels Beyond Science" 

2 See diagram at the beginning of Op. cit. 



Spiritism and Psychology 185 

absent-mindedness, hypnosis, etc. In this condition the 
polygon is susceptible to influence from another O by 
means of suggestion. The disaggregated polygon ex- 
presses itself in the phenomena of automatism and ap- 
pears in "secondary personalities," and a further, intra- 
polygonal disaggregation will account for the phe- 
nomena of analgesia and anaethesia often observed in 
induced somnambulism. 



Spiritistic phenomena, as we have said, occur with 
mediums, i. e., intermediaries between the phenomena as 
perceptible effects, and spirits as their alleged cause. In 
the physical phenomena the intermediary role is less 
obvious, especially where physical contact is not* im- 
plied, whereas in the psychical phenomena the medium 
exhibits automatism purporting to be the result of 
spirit-possession or at least to be guided under the in- 
fluence of spirits. 1 If we analyze mediumship we shall 
find its essential constituents in the trance-state, motor 
automatism and the apparent possession, to which 
should be added sensory automatism as found, for in- 
stance, in the hyperesthesia which made the control 
of Eusapia Palladino's one hand and foot very painful 
to her. 

The trance-state is indicative of dissociation of per- 
sonality as we find it in various psychological abnormal 
states in which both automatism and secondary per- 
sonalities appear. We shall now present these psycho- 
logical phenomena for the purpose of comparison with 
the corresponding phenomena of spiritism as we have 
presented them in another chapter. 

1 Even Miss Johnson makes this distinction. <r Mr. Podmore concludes 
that the Piper-Myers is not identical with the Verrall-Myers. For my 
own part it never occurred to me to suppose that it was. It never oc- 
curred to me to imagine that in the scripts we could find anything more 
than a product of the mental interaction of two personalities — the 
automatist and another." (Proceedings, S. P. R., xxvi:262.) 



186 Spiritism and Psychology 

Motor automatism in the state of hyperpolygonal 
dissociation takes the form of intelligent communica- 
tion both in the automatic handwriting, automatic 
speech and automatic gesture. Regarding the latter 
Grasset observes 1 that "gesticulating mediums answer 
questions by gestures of the head or the hand or by run- 
ning their fingers on letters of the alphabet with ex- 
cessive speed." This would do away admirably with 
the argument for spirit agency which might be drawn 
from the great speed with which the ouija board is 
sometimes found to move. 2 

Automatic handwriting has been observed with ab- 
sent-minded people and hysterics, and sometimes so- 
called mirror writing has been obtained. In this we 
find* a very close parallel to the spiritistic phenomena 
of automatic writing and planchette writing even with 
mediums who are not entranced, and for the success of 
these phenomena it is necessary that the medium's 
mind should not be occupied, but rather present as much 
of a blank as possible. 

"Secondary personalities" also develop in dreams, 3 
but still more distinctly in advanced stages of dissocia- 
tion such as epilepsy, hysteria, and as a consequence of 
suggestion or auto-suggestion in hysterically inclined 
persons. They are then often accompanied by hyper- 
esthesia of sight and hearing and by dynamogeny of 
the central sensorium — visual and auditory hallucina- 
tions. Hypnotic suggestion or auto-suggestion has a 
vivifying effect upon the memory so that in the hyp- 
notic trance the memory of previous hypnotic states, 
and other impressions lost to the normal conscious 

1 "The Marvels Beyond Science" p. 136. 

2 Sir William Barrett, "On the Threshold of the Unseen," p. 177: 
"Questions were promptly answered (by the ouija board) and the indi- 
cator often moved so rapidly that (the hands of the sitters) had some 
difficulty in keeping pace with it." 

3 R. L. Stevenson's "my other fellow" appeared to him as a distinct 
part of his mind while he was awake during illness. See his letter in 
"Human Personality" vol. I, pp. 301 et seq. 



Spiritism and Psychology 187 

memory, are recalled. We shall now refer to some ex- 
amples of manifestation of "secondary personalities." 

Miss "Christine L. Beauchamp," a young lady of 
extremely idealistic temperament and almost morbid 
New England conscientiousness, during her College 
years developed neurasthenia in a degree which finally 
compelled her to abandon her studies and left her a 
physical wreck. In this condition she came under the 
observation of Dr. Morton Prince, whose report on her 
case will be found in the Proceedings of the Society for 
Psychical Research/' 1 

In 1898 — she was then 23 years old — Dr. Prince 
submitted her to hypnotic treatment and she was easily 
placed in the somnambulistic state, which is designated 
by him as B ii } B i being the waking Miss Beauchamp. 
One day when hypnotized it was found that she had no 
knowledge of something which she had done in a 
previous hypnotic state and also that in this state — of 
which she later denied the facts — she was an entirely 
distinct and separate person. So far three distinct 
mental states had been observed, of which the waking, 
or B i, knew nothing of the others, while B ii knew B i 
and no more, and B Hi knew both B i and B ii. 

B ii and B Hi were constantly rubbing her eyes in an 
effort to get them open, which, however, was frustrated 
by Dr. Prince, who feared that this would later cause 
spontaneous induction of those states. Finally ~Biii 
succeeded in getting her eyes open, and from now on 
that personality had a spontaneous and independent 
existence. 

Bm, who took the name "Sally Beauchamp," proved 
a most interesting personality, quite different from B i. 
While Bi was serious minded, studious, conscientious 
and religious minded, Sally was full of fun and without 
worry, fond of amusements and quite averse to in- 

1 Proceedings, S. P. R., xv: 466-483 contains the report to the Inter- 
national Congress of Psychology, Paris, Aug. 1900. 



188 Spiritism and Psychology 

tellectual occupations and things pertaining to religion. 
She lacked many of the educational accomplishments 
of Bi, but on the other hand she was free from her 
physical infirmities, never suffered pain and felt no 
fatigue. In short, Sally enjoyed perfect health. While 
Sally showed herself very kind-hearted towards others, 
she had a strong dislike to B i, whom she tormented in 
all possible ways. She would, for instance, walk far out 
in the country, then wake up and become B i, who with 
all her bodily infirmities and quite penniless would have 
to struggle home. She would leave packages contain- 
ing living snakes for Bt, write embarrassing letters to 
her and even make her tell obvious lies, to her horror and 
discomfort. She was able not only to know Bi's 
thoughts, but also to influence them as well as to a cer- 
tain extent her muscular activity. Sally thus persisted 
during the B i and B ii states, while B * became entirely 
effaced during the Sally state, which left completely 
blank gaps in her memory. 

From Sally Dr. Prince obtained the whole past 
history of B i, which gives at hand that Miss Beauchamp 
developed her peculiar characteristics and her neurasthe- 
nia in 1893 as the results of a very great shock she had 
received. In other words, at that time Miss Beau- 
champ modified into Bi. In 1899 the incident of six 
years previously was suddenly brought to her mind, 
which threw her into a highly excited state and caused 
the development of a new personality, ~Biv, quite un- 
like the rest and unaware of the existence of B i. Un- 
fortunately a description of this personality would 
make our reference too lengthy. 

Dr. Prince draws the following conclusions as to the 
relations between the different states. Neither Bi nor 
Bw is strictly the original Miss Beauchamp, nor are 
they somnambulistic personalities, but modifications of 
the original Self. In 1893 the original Miss Beau- 
champ disintegrated into Bi and Bw. As a fact ~Biv 



Spiritism and Psychology 189 

retained a memory of Miss Beauchamp's life up to the 
emergence of Bi in 1893. Bm is the "subliminal con- 
sciousness" which developed and assumed an inde- 
pendent existence in 1897. Both Bi and Bw if hypno- 
tized become Bw, who knows the thoughts of Bi and 
Biv. But these latter are ignorant of Bn's existence. 
After seven years of experimentation Dr. Prince 
finally succeeded, with the aid of suggestion, in com- 
bining the two personalities Bi and Bii into what he 
considered the original Miss Beauchamp, a healthy and 
normal woman, and Sally now ceased to appear. 

Both Miss Beauchamp's case and the well known 
one of the "Watseka Wonder" * show extreme degrees 
of dissociation with very individualized and permanent 
"secondary personalities," and as such hardly find a 
direct parallel in spiritistic mediumship. 

But they will show the possibilities of nature in this 
respect and contribute to a better understanding of the 
cases to which we now shall refer. 2 

Mme. Hugo d'Alesi when hypnotized would pass 
into somnambulism, and then, after a short interval of 
catalepsy, emerge a new personality, proclaiming her- 
self one of various spirits that had taken hold of her. 3 
She would be a young, whimsical woman of slightly 
defective pronunciation, or "Philippe," or "M. Tetard, 

*Lurancy Vennum, the "Watseka Wonder," a girl of fourteen who 
showed herself peculiar and had fits, was hypnotized and developed the 
personality of a girl who had died twelve years previously. The new per- 
sonality showed the most remarkable acquaintance with those things the 
dead girl knew in her lifetime, and the impersonation was most realistic. 
After five months the original personality returned, to give room, at 
intervals, for the one developed. (See Myers, "Human Personality" vol. 
I, pp. 360-368.) 

2 Dr. Forel records a rather similar case of a young woman who under 
the influence of repeated induction of somnambulism by university stu- 
dents, spiritists and French experimenters developed a secondary per- 
sonality of such depravity and loose habits that her life was threatened 
with ruin. — Forel, "Hypnotismus, etc.," "Ein Fall von Doppeltem 
Bewusstsein," pp. 233-237. See also the case of a bank clerk who for sev- 
eral days assumed a secondary personality, in which state he undertook a 
journey. Not until hypnotized could he recall what he had done during 
this period. — In C. Lloyd Tuckey, "Treatment by Hypnotism and Sug- 
gestion," pp. 105-106. 

"Grasset, "The Marvels Beyond Science," pp. 142-144. 



190 Spiritism and Psychology 

chewing tobacco or drinking ordinary wine," or "Abbe 
Gerard, who intends to deliver a sermon, but whose 
head is thick and mouth sticky because of the preceding 
incarnation," or, again, an obscene fellow, a baby, or a 
little girl of three years. When aroused from the 
hypnotic trance she would immediately resume her 
ordinary personality. Mile. Couesdon 1 would hypno- 
tize herself and then become the "Angel Gabriel," using 
a language in which the frequent occurrence of the 
word-ending "E" made false rhymes. 

M. Flammarion gives some very interesting samples 
of automatism from his own experience. 2 His friend, 
Victorien Sardou, had experimented with mediumship 
and produced, apparently in a waking state, automatic 
writing describing the life of the inhabitants of Jupiter. 
The account is very fanciful and reflects the current 
ideas on the topic at the time. He would also draw 
automatically, and we have before us two sketches of 
Zoroaster's house on Jupiter, the one showing the tra- 
ditional kind of "Pan" and "animal devils." Other 
sketches show the houses of Mozart and Bernard 
Palissy on the same planet. After some unsuccessful 
attempts M. Flammarion also developed automatic 
writing and produced an astronomical treatise signed 
"Galileo." The document, however, failed to add any- 
thing new to science, and the Professor recognized in 
it the reflections of his own mind. 

But the classical example is found in the case of Mile. 
Smith, 3 the famous subject of Professor Flournoy, who 
in her trance is first "possessed" by "Victor Hugo," 
writing trifling church hymn rhythms ; later by Leopold, 
who after a struggle drives "Victor Hugo" from her 



1 Annates des Sciences Psychiques, 1896, p. 124. 

2 Flammarion, "Mysterious Psychic Forces" pp. 25-27. 

3 Flournoy, "Des Indes a la PlanHe Mars, Etude sur un cos de 
somnambulism avec glossologie ; Idem, "Nouvelles Observations sur un cas 
de Somnambulism," Geneva 1902, and "Un Nouveau Cycle Somnambulique 
de Mile. Smith: ses Peintures religieuses" in Arch, de Psychologie, Tome 
vii, July 1917, p. 63, and September 1907, p. 206. 



Spiritism and Psychology 191 

organism over which he then takes complete possession, 
and Joseph Balsamo, the spirit of Cagliostro. There 
are various periods in her automatism, the most inter- 
esting being her Martian romance and her revelation of 
the unknown history of ancient India. 1 

Having in her trance perceived a bright star towards 
which she feels herself floating, Helene Smith finally 
sees three enormous spheres and is informed by the 
table that she is now on Mars. Upon the suggestion 
of M. Lemaitre, who is present, she now gives a de- 
scription of life and people on the planet — carriages 
without horses and wheels, houses with water jets play- 
ing on their roofs, men and women like ourselves but 
dressed in long, ornamented blouses, and so forth. She 
finds Alexis, a former pupil of Lemaitre' s and now 
dead, mingling with the Mars people. She illustrates 
her descriptions with sketches, automatically drawn, 
and representing landscapes, Mars inhabitants, vil- 
lages, houses and a flying-machine which looks like a 
carriage lamp with a dust broom stuck through the 
glass. 2 The most remarkable part of the Martian ro- 
mance is the revelation of the Martian language, which 
includes complete alphabet, grammar and vocabulary, 
and is given both vocally and in writing. It shows a 
great similarity to French, both as regards construc- 
tion and sounds, and the letters in the alphabet corre- 
spond exactly to those in the French alphabet. 3 This 
is an example of the language in Latin characters: 

1 "For certainly the revelations of (Mile. Smith) upon the Martian 
language or the unknown history of ancient India do not give first place 
to any of the preceding (including the case of W. Stainton-Moses and 
others) in brilliance or in originality." (Flournoy in ''Spiritism and 
Psychology,'* p. 135.) 

2 See illustration in "Des Indes a la Planete Mars," p. 155. 

3 "Par bonheur (la langue martienne), en depit de ses apparences 
Granges et des cinquante millions de lieues qui nous separent bon an 
mal an de la rouge planete, est au fond si proche voisin du francais que 
cette enterprise n'offre guere de difficult^ dans son cas." (Op. cit., p. 
202.) 

". . . la transcription frangaise s'impose d'elle mSme, chaque lettre 
martienne ayant son equivalent exact dans notre alphabet (sauf le signe — 
muet — de certains pluriels . . .)" (Op. cit., p. 203.) 



192 Spiritism and Psychology 

Dode ne ci haudan te mess metiche astane 
This is the house of the great man Astane 

ke de me veche. 
which thou hast seen. 1 

Professor Flournoy naturally comes to the con- 
clusion that the whole Martian language has its sole 
source in Helene's imagination, whence it is subcon- 
sciously elaborated in her somnambulistic state. 2 

The more involved revelation of unknown Indian 
history includes specimens of Sanscrit and Hindoo 
chants. The psychological analysis of these somnam- 
bulistic lucubrations will be found in Flournoy's work. 3 

In January, 1894, Helene was informed by the table 
that she was the reincarnation of Marie Antoinette, 
Queen of France. This was the beginning of the so- 
called Royal Cycle. Previous to this event a Mrs. B. 
in whose house Helene was giving seances had offered 
her an engraving from Dumas' "~Les Memoires d'un 
Medecin" representing the decanter scene between 
Balsamo (Cagliostro) and the Dauphiness, which 
doubtless called to her mind the popular tradition ac- 
cording to which Cagliostro was supposed to have been 
closely connected with Marie Antoinette. Mme. B. 
also intimated that Leopold, Helene's spirit guide, 
might be identical with Joseph Balsamo, which was 
later confirmed by Leopold through the table. Mme. 
B. now suggested that Helene must be the embodiment 
of Lorenza Feliciani, Cagliostro's medium, which she 
also believed till she learned that this person was a 
purely fictitious creation of Alexandre Dumas. It was 

1 Ibid., p. 204. 

2 "J'ai a peine besoin d'ajouter, en terminant, que toute hypothese 
spirite ou occulte quelconque me parait absolument superflue et injusti- 
fiee dans le cas du martien de Mile. Smith. L'autosuggestibilit§, mise en 
branle par certaines stimulations du milieu, comme on vient de le voir 
par l'histoire de l'ultramartien. suffit amplement a rendre compte de ce 
cycle tout entier." (Op. cit., p. 256.) 

3 Op. cit., pp. 318-322. 



Spiritism and Psychology 193 

then that she was informed by the table that she was 
Marie Antoinette. These preliminary remarks, we 
think, will clear up the origin of the Royal Cycle. 

To begin with, both Balsamo and Marie Antoinette 
were communicating through the table, Helene giving 
the impersonation by gesture. Gradually automatic 
writing appeared and finally Balsamo began to speak, 
and Marie Antoinette to be impersonated both in speech 
and pantomime. When controlled by Balsamo she 
speaks with a burr and lisps, using Italian accent and 
now obsolete words. She makes Marie Antoinette 
speak with English accent. In both cases her automatic 
writing uses the spelling of the nineteenth century. 
While impersonating Marie Antoinette, however, she 
accepts and smokes a cigarette (she does not smoke in 
her waking state ) , and while evading such traps as refer- 
ences to telephones and bicycles by the Marquis de 
Mirabeau and Louis-Philippe of Orleans impersonated 
by two gentlemen present, she uses expressions such as 
"to run off the track" and "meter" and "centimeter" 
which the famous Queen must have learned in the be- 
yond. Her automatic writing under the two "controls" 
shows no resemblance to either the handwriting of 
Balsamo or that of Marie Antoinette. 1 And on the 
whole, Flournoy concludes, there is nothing in the 
whole comedy which can not be ascribed to subliminal 
creations on the part of Mile. Smith, prompted and 
facilitated by the great quantity of historical and 
legendary souvenirs of the illustrious Queen to be found 
in France. 2 



If we now compare the phenomena of automatic 
speech and writing with the cases to which we have re- 

1 See comparison between the automatic writing of the "Marie- 
Antoinette" control and that of the real Marie Antoinette in Op. cit., p. 
327. 

*Op. cit., p. 338. 



194 Spiritism and Psychology 

f erred we shall not fail to find a very close parallel. The 
entire mechanism of the spiritistic phenomena with 
their dramatization and impersonation of those de- 
parted, far from exceeding what has been exhibited by 
Mile. Smith and in other cases, very often falls greatly 
below them in vigour and verisimilitude. So far as the 
mechanism of spiritistic automatism, then, is concerned, 
there is no reason to ascribe to the phenomena a pre- 
ternatural origin. But it is necessary to investigate 
them from the point of view of the intelligence which 
they convey in order to see whether knowledge is re- 
vealed which would have to be ascribed to spirits. Pre- 
liminary to proceeding to this inquiry we shall investi- 
gate the possibility of conveying intelligence from one 
mind to another as claimed by defenders of telepathy 
and thought-transference, but before so doing we shall 
see what bearing the development of "secondary per- 
sonalities" and automatism may have upon the physical 
phenomena of Spiritism. 



Our survey of the phenomena of Spiritism as a whole 
showed us that whereas a portion of the psychical phe- 
nomena were undoubtedly genuine, the physical phe- 
nomena could not be proven not to have been mechani- 
cally produced by the medium. Deliberate fraud was 
found in great abundance and no doubt would have to 
be suspected in most cases of physical mediumship. 
Even Eusapia Palladino was repeatedly shown to be 
conscious of her fraud. 

There is at least one case, however, in which, for rea- 
sons already stated, it is very difficult to assume de- 
liberate fraud, the case of W. Stainton-Moses, and this 
fact brings up the question whether his, and a certain 
portion of physical phenomena in general, could not be 
explained by automatism in the trance state. 



Spiritism and Psychology 195 

Mr. Moses' performances included phenomena of the 
most suspicious character, such as prolonged levitation 
of the medium, carrying of objects from one end of the 
house to the other, arranging of various objects to form 
an elaborate figure on Mr. Moses' bed, etc., under cir- 
cumstances which would not have prevented him from 
playing the role of acting spirit. A great majority of 
his physical phenomena will therefore instantly find an 
adequate explanation if we assume that Mr. Moses in 
his trance state developed a secondary personality 
which considered itself to be Grocyn or some other 
spirit, and employed the medium's hands for the neces- 
sary manipulations. We have spoken of visual and 
auditory hallucinations as frequently occurring in 
states of dissociation of personality which would ex- 
plain the apparitions he saw and the voices he heard. 
Nor is it impossible that his direct spirit writings were 
automatically produced. 

If from Moses' phenomena we turn to those of 
Eusapia Palladino we shall find that while those ex- 
hibited at Cambridge were obviously fraudulent, and 
although at all her seances she has been observed to per- 
form a certain number of her phenomena with her hands 
and feet, there are other instances — and we refer par- 
ticularly to the Naples sittings in 1908 — where the con- 
trol employed would exclude fraud of this particular 
nature. It is admitted by almost all her investigators 
that, whereas comparatively easily detected fraud is 
often resorted to, "better" phenomena also occur when 
at least this kind of fraud is not employed. 

We have shown that she was never able to produce 
the slightest phenomenon with adequate self -registering 
apparatus and also that she actually deceived her con- 
trollers in a very subtle manner. And to our conclu- 
sion that all her phenomena could have been fraudu- 
lently produced we must then add that besides her 
more easily detected method of manipulation she must 



196 Spiritism and Psychology 

have employed another method implying much greater 
skill and particularly greater rapidity and precision in 
her movements. 

It is of common knowledge that somnambules ex- 
hibit an extraordinary precision in their movements — 
they will, v. g., walk on the edge of a precipice or climb 
about in the most dangerous positions, and with the 
greatest ease. This is but a phase of the abnormal de- 
velopment of certain faculties witnessed in hyper- 
esthesia and in increase of muscular power. To this 
must be added automatic muscular movement verified 
for instance in experimental table turning 1 and the ex- 
cessive speed which it attains, as we have remarked in 
connection with the ouija board. 

If we return to the case of Eusapia Palladino we can 
base the following theory upon facts verified in the 
trance or somnambulistic state. John King is a "sec- 
ondary personality" impersonating a spirit and making 
use of Eusapia' s bodily organs for automatic speech 
and movements. Her hands, arms, legs and feet, and 
probably her head and neck, partake in these movements 
which are characterized by extraordinary precision and 
a speed which defies detection. 2 Visual hyperesthesia 
would undoubtedly be very helpful to the medium at 
dark seances. 

Evidently this hypothesis would fully explain 
Eusapia's phenomena of movement of objects within 
her reach and of sounds, blows, pinchings, production 
of objects and partial materializations in the neighbor- 



1 Faraday first discovered that table turning was effected by uncon- 
scious muscular movement in the fingers of the medium and the sitters. 
The movement is so minute that it can not be noticed by ocular obser- 
vation. But if sandpaper is pasted upon the table with soft paste and 
the hands of the sitters are placed on the paper it will be found that 
the paper will move on the top of the table in the direction in which the 
table is turning. 

2 On the principle that a movement, v. g., of the hand is not noticed 
if done with greater rapidity than that of which the observer's eyes are 
capable. 



Spiritism and Psychology 197 

hood of the medium, as it would also her autolevitations, 
in the presence of the strictest kind of visual and tactile 
control under which these phenomena have been ob- 
served. The faculties developed in the entranced 
medium are supernormal, and consequently the me- 
chanical mode of production of the phenomena is super- 
normal and beyond that which a skilled conjurer could 
exhibit in the waking state. Simple apparatus such as 
perhaps a black cord would now explain the telekinetic 
phenomena occurring beyond the medium's reach, and 
a small metal "corn" fastened on a metal strap around 
one foot and slightly protruding through her 
stocking could be pressed through the hem of her 
dress, which always touches one leg of the table, into 
the wood of the leg so that the foot the more easily 
might perform the levitation of the table. And with 
all this — Eusapia might have been almost an honest 
woman ! 



Finally we shall turn our attention to natural, psy- 
chical phenomena known as thought-transference, telep- 
athy and telsesthesia as possibly accounting for what 
broadly speaking might be termed "spirit-messages." 

Telepathy and clairvoyance, the popularly best 
known among these phenomena, have already obtained 
a rather broad acceptance, based, no doubt, less upon 
scientific evidence than resulting from the careless man- 
ner in which the terms have been scattered about by 
writers in the popular vein, and in the course of time 
they have silently slipped from the realm of scientific 
hypotheses to that of established facts in popular con- 
sciousness. Scientifically telepsychism has not been es- 
tablished, for while certain facts have been recognized 
by many as actually existing and pointing to extra- 
sense communication and perception, yet the laws by 
which these facts are governed must be said so far to 



198 Spiritism and Psychology 

be unknown to science. Before turning to evidential 
matter we shall briefly define the terms which we shall 
have occasion to use. 

Telepsychism is used by Boirac 1 in preference to the 
older usage of the word "telepathy" to designate the 
ensemble of different phenomena known as second 
sight, clairvoyance, divination, presentiments, mental 
suggestion, etc. These phenomena, in their turn, di- 
vide in a telepathic and a telsesthetic group. In gen- 
eral telepathy denotes "the ability of one mind to im- 
press or to be impressed by another mind otherwise than 
through the recognized channels of sense," 2 or "the com- 
munication of impressions of any kind from one mind to 
another independently of the recognized channels of 
sense." 3 Boirac defines telepathy as "the action of 
transference of thought from one person to another by 
the exercise of the will." 4 This definition is not very 
clear, and, furthermore, does not express what es- 
sentially should be the distinguishing mark between 
telepathy in the strictest sense of the term and thought- 
transference, viz., that in the former the impressions 
seem to be conveyed spontaneously and even uncon- 
sciously (or we think, rather, subconsciously) on the 
part of the transmitter, whereas in thought-transference 
the will and conscious effort to impress another mind is 
the distinguishing characteristic. 5 Of course, we may 
here be distinguishing where no distinction should be 

x "0ur Hidden Forces," pp. 178-179. 

2 Gurney, "Phantasms of the Living," vol. I, p. 6. 

3 Myers, "Human Personality" vol. I, p. 21. 

4 Op. cit., p. 178. 

*Dr. Grasset makes this distinction. "It is easy to perceive the re- 
semblance, as well as the differences, existing between mental suggestion 
and telepathy. Telepathy is also a thought transference, but it is a 
transference at a long distance, whilst in mental suggestion both sub- 
jects are quite near each other. Besides (and this is more important) 
in mental suggestion the transmitting subject is active; he does not inter- 
fere in telepathy. This is so important that we shall see cases in which 
mental suggestion is practiced at more or less great distance, although it 
does not become telepathy because the physical effort is made by the sug- 
gesting subject." — "The Marvels beyond Science" p. 321. 



Spiritism and Psychology 199 

made, but it should be borne in mind that so far we are 
dealing only with terms of convenience, referring to 
certain facts or groups of facts such as they appear to 
us. 

The telaesthetic phenomena consist in clairvoyance 
and clairaudience. Myers defines telaesthesia as 
"sensation at a distance" in distinction to telepathy, 
which is "fellow-feeling at a distance." 1 The terms 
clairvoyance, clairaudience, etc., vary according to the 
sense corresponding with the sensation perceived. 

We shall now turn to a review of the evidence for 
what we consider the facts indicating the phenomena de- 
scribed in our terminology. 

The evidence for the facts pointing to the telepathic 
phenomena divides into two kinds, the one including 
spontaneous cases of telepathic manifestations (telep- 
athy proper), the other embracing the results of ex- 
perimental investigation (thought-transference). Both 
kinds offer an abundance of material, which is con- 
stantly growing. 

The spontaneous cases capable of verification con- 
sist mainly in apparitions of the living (including those 
at the moment of death), and in veridical auditory 
hallucinations. The main collections of these cases, to 
which we here refer, are those of Messrs. Gurney, Pod- 
more and Myers in "Phantasms of the Living" and the 
report on the so-called Census of Hallucinations, under- 
taken under the auspices of the Society for Psychical 
Research, which is found in the tenth volume of the 
Proceedings of the Society. 2 Additional cases will be 
found in Podmore's "Apparitions and Thought- 
Transference," in the publications of the two Societies 
for Psychical Research, in the Annales des Sciences 
Psychiques, etc. 



"Human Personality " vol. i, p. 136. 
English. 



200 Spiritism and Psychology 

The report on the Census of Hallucinations shows 
that out of 17,000 persons questioned, and with de- 
duction of affirmative answers referring to dreams, in- 
articulate sounds, and hallucinations during illness 
known to produce delirium, there remained 1,684 cases 
of hallucinations in the normal waking state, 1 350 of 
which were recognized apparitions of living persons. 2 
Of these sixty-five were death coincidences. The find- 
ings of the census takers, when summed up, give a ratio 
of cases, showing a probable relation between cause and 
effect, of one in forty-three, while cases due to coin- 
cidence would be about one in nine thousand, 3 which 
would be about 440 times less than the ratio of cases re- 
corded. The calculations would show that the number 
of cases of death coincidence gathered in the census by 
far exceeds the probabilities of chance, and offer proof 
for the existence of a logical nexus between the actual 
occurrence and the hallucination received. 

Besides cases of death coincidence there are those of 
apparition of persons in danger of accidents or ap- 
proaching the recipient. These cases, recorded in the 
works above referred to, are sufficiently numerous, and 
present sufficiently strong and verifiable evidence of 
coincidence between the actual occurrence and the 
hallucination to bespeak a nexus between the two. The 
hallucinations are not always visual, i. e., do not always 
take the form of apparitions, but may sometimes be 

1 Proceedings, 8. P. R., x:39. 

2 Ibid., p. 246. 

3 Making allowance for exaggeration, selection, and cases known be- 
forehand by the collector, the report reduces the evidential number of cases 
of death-coincidence from 65 to 32. {Proceedings, 8. P. R., x: 242-243). 
In order to compare the total number of recognized apparitions of the 
living with that of death coincidences allowance is made for forgetfulness, 
and the figure 350 (marking recognized apparitions of the living) is raised 
to 1,300, giving a ratio of about 1 in 43 (Proceedings, 8. P. R., x: 63-65, 
247 ) . On the basis of the average annual death rate in England and 
Wales, according to the official report of 1890, it is calculated that the 
probability for the death of any one person taken at random is about 1 
in 19.000. Consequently, out of every 19,000 apparitions of living per- 
sons there should be one chance coincidence. 



Spiritism and Psychology 201 

auditory, when the voice of the agent is recognized by 
the recipient. This variation, however, is of no particu- 
lar importance in the evidence for telepathy. 

The more striking cases presented in the report, as 
well as those found in ''Phantasms of the Living" are 
too well known to need restatement, and have been ad- 
mirably gathered and presented by Mr. Podmore. 1 
They will also be found referred to and quoted at con- 
siderable length in ''Human Personality." 

We have dealt with veridical hallucinations as oc- 
curring between an agent and one percipient; the rec- 
ords, however, also show cases where several percipi- 
ents simultaneously have had the same hallucination. 
No less than 95 collective visual hallucinations are re- 
corded in the Census report, among which 67 took the 
form of realistic appearance of the human figure. Of 
these 27 represented living persons, 2 and there was a 
sufficient number of an intensity warranting their real 
occurrence. 

Are the collective hallucinations to be referred among 
telepathic manifestations ? At any rate there is no need 
for pressing the telepathic theory to extremes, and in 
cases, especially where the apparition seemed to have a 
definite objective existence in successive positions, it 
may be well to leave the question open. 3 

The experimental cases include the conveyance of 
impressions to a percipient both in the normal waking 
and in the hypnotic state, referred to as thought-trans- 
ference or mental suggestion. 

Beginning with experiments with a percipient in the 
normal waking state we shall find that in the early 
stages of investigation they usually took place with the 
agent and the percipient in the same room. Accounts 

1 Studies, etc., pp. 234-267. 

2 Podmore, Studies, etc., pp. 261-62. 

3 See Sir William F. Barrett, "On the Threshold of the Unseen," p. 
157. 



202 Spiritism and Psychology 

will be found in early volumes of the Proceedings of the 
Society for Psychical Research and in ''Phantasms of 
the Living/' 1 

In 1883 Mr. Guthrie, of Liverpool, conducted a long 
series of experiments with two percipients and a group 
of agents, each of whom, when alone with one or other 
of the percipients, was successful in transferring his 
impressions. 2 The ideas transferred were of colors, 
geometrical figures and objects of all descriptions, and 
the percipients would make diagrammatical reproduc- 
tions of their impressions, which now may be compared 
with the reproductions of the corresponding ideas in the 
mind of the agent. In spite of due proportion of fail- 
ures the result is very striking. 3 

In 1893 Mrs. A. W. Verrall experimented with her 
daughter, then between nine and ten years old. They 
were sitting in the same room, back to back, and the re- 
cipient both described and drew what she visualized. 
Out of nine experiments four were successful, two 
failed to give any impression whatever, two more failed 
when the agent's power of visualizing was weak, one 
was doubtful. 4 



1 Professor Barrett ( now Sir William ) read a paper on experiments in 
thought transference with a hypnotized girl before the British Association 
in 1876. He learned' of other instances in which telepathy had been ob- 
served in the normal waking state. In 1881-2 he conducted a series of 
experiments in which Professors Sidgwick and Steward, and Messrs. 
Gurney and Myers took part, and which seemed to establish telepathic 
communication. Since then experiments have been conducted in different 
countries, the results of which have confirmed Prof. Barrett's conclusions. 

Among early experiments we would refer to those of Max Dessoir (in 
Proc, 8. P. R., iv:lll and v:355) ; Anton Schmoll and Etienne Mabie 
(Ibid., iv:324 and v:169) ; J. W. Smith (Ibid., ii:207) ; Oliver Lodge 
(Ibid., vii:374); A. Blair Thaw (Ibid., viii:422) ; v. Schrenck-Notzing 
(Ibid., vii:3); Ch. Richet (Ibid., v:18). 

We also refer to the record in "Phantasms of the Living," vol. I, pp. 
32-34 and vol. II, pp. 653-654. See also Podmore, "Apparitions and 
Thought Transference," especially chapter V. 

2 "Phantasms of the Living," vol. I, pp. 36-58. 

3 For experiments by Mr. Henry G. Rawson see Proceedings, 8. P. R., 
xi:2-17. The method of diagrams was employed and the results were 
good. 

4 Podmore, Studies, etc., pp. 206-211 (partly taken from Proceedings, 
8. P. R., vol. xi.) 



Spiritism and Psychology 203 

Dr. Quintard records the case of a healthy boy five 
years of age who was able to solve complicated mathe- 
matical problems instantly, and although ignorant of 
any foreign language would solve problems presented 
to him in English, Latin, Greek or Spanish. But his 
powers failed him completely in the absence of his 
mother or when she was unable to solve the problem pre- 
sented. Evidently this case shows an "involuntary ex- 
periment" in thought-transference between mother and 
child. 1 

The experiments conducted by Mrs. Sidgwick and 
Miss Alice Johnson 2 include one series of 126 attempts, 
giving over 26% successes, 56% wrong impressions, and 
more than 17% cases without impression. Of the 126 
attempts 71 were made with agent and percipient in 
the same room and the result was 45% successes, 37% 
failures, and 18% cases without impression. The result 
in the remaining 55 cases, when the agent and the per- 
cipient were in different rooms, was 4% successes, 80% 
failures, and 16% cases with no impression. 

Among more recent experiments those of Miss 
Clarissa Miles and Miss Hermione Ramsden con- 
ducted in the fall of the years 1905 and 1906 are of par- 
ticular interest on account of the distance between 
agent and recipient. 3 The first series included fifteen 
experiments at a distance of twenty miles, 4 and shows 
33% successes, while the second series, undertaken when 
the two ladies were separated by about 400 miles, re- 
sulted in four successful cases out of fifteen, or 27% 



1 Annates des Sciences Psychiques for Nov., Dec, 1894. 
8 "Experiments in Thought Transference," in Proceedings, 8. P. R., 
viii: 536-597. 

3 "Experiments in Thought Transference," by Clarissa Miles and 
Hermione Ramsden in Proceedings, 8. P. R., xxi: 60-93. 

4 Except in the case of the 15th experiment when agent was in Monaco 
and recipient in England. 



204 Spiritism and Psychology 

successes. 1 The thought selected for transmission often 
consisted in vague ideas, but the best successes were ob- 
tained only when objects actually seen or events and 
scenes transpiring before the agent were chosen. 2 

Still more striking results have been shown when the 
percipient has been in a hypnotic state. The experi- 
ments conducted by Professor and Mrs. Sidgwick with 
Mr. Smith in 1899 exhibit a large proportion of success- 
ful cases. 3 Trials were made with numbers, agent and 
recipient being in the same room, and out of 644 at- 
tempts there were 117 correct impressions. Similar re- 
sults were obtained with mental images when agent and 
recipient were in different rooms. 4 

In a later series undertaken by Mrs. Sidgwick and 
Miss Johnson the percipient was a young lady who had 
been hypnotized. Numbers of two digits were selected 
for transference, and during the whole series agent and 
percipient were in different rooms. 5 Out of 252 trials 
belonging to one series 27 met with complete and 116 
with partial success — i. e., the digits were either re- 
versed or one digit only was correctly given. 

1 First Series 5 successes 33% 

3 failures 20% 

2 partial successes 13% 

2 partial failures 13% 

1 probable success 7% 

Second Series 4 successes 27% 

7 doubtful cases 47% 

2 partial successes 13% 

2 neutral cases 13% 

2 For other experiments at long distance see "Apparitions and Thought 
Transference," passim, Journal, 8. P. B., April, Oct., Nov., 1896. Proceed- 
ings, 8. P. B., vi and xi. 

8 Proceedings, 8. P. B., vi: 128-170, and viii:554-577. 

* Professor Sidgwick has answered Messrs. Lehmann's and Hansen's 
criticism implying that the results of the experiments could be explained 
by unconscious faint whispering with closed lips by saying, 1, that it has 
not been shown that such whispering does take place involuntarily; 2, 
that to assume it would argue hyperesthesia of the hearing in the agent 
which was not found; 3, that the circumstances did not always allow of 
the possibility of conveying intelligence by whispering since the subjects 
part of the time were in different rooms. {Proceedings, 8. P. B., xii:298, 
etc.) 

8 Proceedings, 8. P. B., viii: 536-597. 



Spiritism and Psychology 205 

We have also examples of induction of hypnotism 
from a distance. In 1885 and 1886 Professor Pierre 
Janet and Dr. Gilbert were experimenting with Mme. 
B. and succeeded repeatedly in putting her to sleep 
from a distance at times as long as a mile. She would 
then be able to tell who was her hypnotizer. Mr. Myers 
treats of these experiments at some length in Human 
Personality. 1 

Dr. Boirac tells of some very interesting cases of in- 
ducing hypnotic sleep from a distance in a subject en- 
tirely unaware of the experiment, 2 which was repeated 
several times quite successfully. Later experiments 
with his usual subjects conducted between the years 
1894 and 1896 convinced him that "the phenomenon of 
'sleep provoked at a distance,' by mental action only, as 
well as the 'waking from a distance,' " could be "pro- 
duced as often as desired." 3 

Such are the types of evidence adduced to prove the 
existence of the facts pointing to telepathic phenomena. 
The spontaneous phenomena of apparitions and voices 
of the living can not reasonably be denied in the face 
of the mass of evidence which has been gathered. We 
have dealt with phantasms of the living to exclude any 
hypothesis of "the dead coming back." There are only 
two possible explanations — since it must be admitted 
that chance coincidence could not adequately cover the 
ensemble of evidence — either we must admit some sort 
of extra-sense communication between mind and mind, 
unconsciously produced by the transmitter, or we must 
accept the phenomena as indicating the objective pres- 
ence of his externalized double. But the induced phe- 



1 Myers, "Human Personality," vol. I, pp. 524-529. For reports see 
Phantasms of the Living, vol. II, pp. 679-683; Bulletins de la SocieU de 
Psychologie Physiologique, Tome I, p. 24; Revue Philosophique, Aug. 1886. 
Proceedings, 8. P. R., iv: 131-137 and v: 43-45. 

For further cases see Proceedings, 8. P. R., v:222, 223, vi:411 et seq., 
ix:216; Revue de I'Eypnotisme, Feb. 1888, "Phantasms of the Living," 
vol. II, pp. 683, 685, 332, etc. 

e "0ur Hidden Forces," pp. 168-170. 

3 Op. cit., pp. 170-171; for a description of cases see pp. 171-177. 



206 Spiritism and Psychology 

nomena of thought transference give no indications of 
verifying the latter hypothesis. On the contrary they 
strongly point to a verification of the former which thus 
would satisfy both the spontaneous and the induced 
cases, and consequently be the only one which can 
logically be accepted. 

The actuality of thought transference as we have de- 
fined the term has been, and is, denied by a number of 
scientists chiefly on the ground that their own experi- 
ments have failed. 1 But it is difficult to understand this 
attitude. The evidence furnished by experiments which 
have succeeded can not be overthrown by any number 
of failures, unless it can be shown that what was re- 
garded as success depended upon error. We do not 
think this can be shown in the experiments above re- 
ferred to. First of all, a study of the reports, one after 
another, will convince any candid mind that we are not 
confronted with a series of chance coincidences and 
guesses. The experiments with numbers alone would 
be sufficient to carry this conviction. That other causes 
such as judgment from gestures, speech, facial expres- 
sions, sound from the movement of the pencil on the 
paper, whispering with closed lips, etc., must be ex- 
cluded in cases of experiments conducted with agent 
and percipient in different rooms, and, a fortiori, in 
different localities, is self-evident. 

Boirac denies thought transferences but at the same 
time admits that psychic force can be transmitted from 
one individual to another without physical contact. 2 
This, however, does not affect our facts; it merely ad- 
vances a more definite theory for their explanation. 

For our own part we think that failures depend upon 
our lack of knowledge of the laws and conditions which 
govern the phenomena. For while we grant that an 

1 Grasset, "The Marvels beyond Science," pp. 322 et seq., and Coover, 
"Experiments in Psychical Research." 

'Our Hidden Forces," pp. 282 et seq. 



i », 



Spiritism and Psychology 207 

idea has been conveyed from one mind to another, we 
do not know how it was conveyed, whether from brain 
to brain by means of ether vibrations, or from soul to 
soul without physical intermediary, or whether by ex- 
ternalization of "psychic force." We do not know 
what process insures its transmission from the agent, 
nor its reception by the percipient. As a fact, we know 
no more than that the agent tried to convey the idea 
and that it was conveyed. 

Many with Myers consider telepathy and thought 
transference subliminal or subconscious functions. 
There are indications of this both in the spontaneous 
and the experimental cases. The spontaneous cases are 
most strongly provoked by incidents which would not 
chiefly affect the supraliminal mind, such as acts of 
volition or intellectual activities, but rather would 
arouse the passions and emotions, which after all have 
their seat and source in the subliminal — such incidents 
as death, accidents, approach, and so forth. 

The experimental cases seem to depend upon volition, 
but this might well be a more remote cause, and is not 
even necessary. The experiments of Miss Miles and 
Miss Ramsden show, v. g., that in the first case of the 
first series the intended idea was not transmitted, but 
the percipient could "feel" the position of the agent. 
Several successive cases give the same indication. It 
is not the will to transmit a particular idea which sends 
it through space to the percipient, rather it is the in- 
tensity of presence of the image in the subliminal to- 
gether with that of the intended percipient which es- 
tablishes the necessary nexus. And this intensity of 
presence may well at times be provoked by volition. But 
volition itself is not an act of the subliminal. If we ac- 
cept the hypothesis of telepathic phenomena as sub- 
liminal functions we might go a step further. It is not 
only a question of transmission, the question of recep- 
tion is also involved. It depends upon the intensity of 



208 Spiritism and Psychology 

a subliminal impression whether it will rise to supra- 
liminal consciousness or not. Moreover, the transition 
from the subliminal to the supraliminal may be de- 
termined by the degree of preoccupation of the mind 
and depend upon many other conditions. The fact that 
hallucinations often do not exactly coincide in time with 
the occurrence which they represent would go to show 
that the impression was subliminally received and later 
penetrated to supraliminal consciousness. And the 
greater amount of successes in experiments with hypno- 
tized subjects would coincide with the fact that in the 
hypnotic state the normally subliminal is brought closer 
to the surface. 

Of course, in these matters, we are dealing with 
hypotheses rather than with facts, but granting the 
hypothesis of telepathic phenomena as subliminal func- 
tions we think it will be easier to understand cases of 
failure as arising from the increased difficulty of com- 
plying with the conditions for success, and chiefly from 
the agent's inability to influence his own subliminal 
faculties as well as from lack of sufficient supraliminal 
receptivity of subliminal impulses in the percipient. 

But let us return to the evidence. The authentic ac- 
counts of facts which lie before us can not fail to prove 
the reality of extra-sense communication between mind 
and mind. On the other hand, as Professor Hyslop 
points out, 1 the very fact that science is ignorant of the 
laws by which these communications are governed 
naturally prevents us from ranking telepathy and 
thought transference among known phenomena of 
nature. We have not as yet explained telepathy, which 
therefore at the most can be accepted as a term cover- 
ing certain effects which have been observed and repro- 
duced. As a consequence telepathy does not explain 
phenomena which it seems to cover, but merely places 

1 Hyslop, "Science and a Future Life" pp. 37-41. 



Spiritism and Psychology 209 

them on a par with the effects which the term itself 
embraces. Its value, when applied to the phenomena 
of Spiritism, would, therefore, consist in furnishing a 
negative demonstration in so far as it would explain 
away previously alleged causes of certain phenomena. 1 
In this capacity at least, that is to say as a term indicat- 
ing a natural process or exceptional causal nexus be- 
tween mind and mind, telepathy is now accepted by 
men of eminent scientific training who base their ac- 
ceptance upon facts such as we have presented. 2 

The evidence for telsesthetic phenomena we think 
is so abundant and unmistakable that the fact of per- 

1 Hyslop, Op. cit., p. 38. 

2 F. W. H. Myers, in "Human Personality," pp. 241 et seq. Prof. James 
Hyslop, in "Science and a Future Life," pp. 40-41 : "My own present at- 
titude, therefore, is that there is at present ( 1 905 ) satisfactory evidence 
in favor of sporadic instances of an unusual phenomenon involving an ex- 
ceptional causal nexus between the thoughts of one person, the agent, and 
another, the percipient. How it is effected I do not know; nor do I know 
anything about its laws and conditions. ... I therefore hold to telep- 
athy as a suitable explanation, if such we may call it, of phenomena that 
can not lay claim to any transcendental origin of a spiritual kind and 
that represent a supernormal relation between living minds." 

Sir Oliver Lodge, in "The Survival of Man," pp. 33-34: "Physicists 
deny action at a distance, at least most of them do — I do for one; at the 
same time I admit telepathy." p. 39: ". . . the leading members of 
the London Society for Psychical Research — actuated in the first instance 
largely by Prof. Barrett's report (in Proc. vol. i) — investigated the mat- 
ter and gradually by pertinacious experiment became convinced of the 
reality of thought-transference. . . ." 

Emile Boirac in "Our Hidden Forces," p. 180: "From the mass of 
these authentic records ("Phantasms of the Living," Annales des Sciences 
Psychiques, giving evidence for thought transference and telepathy) one 
gains the impression — if not the conviction — that there seem to exist cer- 
tain means of communication, inexplicable in the ordinary way, between 
individuals often situated at great distances from each other." 

Flournoy, "Spiritism and Psychology," p. 64: "The late researches of 
Gurney, Myers, and Podmore (in "Phantasms of the Living"), then the 
striking results of the great "Census of Hallucinations" in 1894, as well 
as a vast number of isolated cases; finally, the varied cases of transmis- 
sion of thought, mental suggestion at a distance, etc., proved to Myers 
the reality of telepathy." 

Sir William F. Barrett, in "On the Threshold of the Unseen," p. 236, 
says that telepathy is now largely accepted. And p. 292: ". . . it 
was not my intention here to treat of other subjects of psychical re- 
search . . . some ( of which ) , like hypnotism and telepathy, are, in 
my opinion, almost as fully established as many of the accepted truths 
of science." 



210 Spiritism and Psychology 

ceiving at a distance can not be denied. Swedenborg 
offers the classical example in his vision, while in 
Gothenburg, of the fire which devoured a great part of 
Stockholm. 1 Experimental cases may be induced in 
clairvoyant subjects by means of hypnotism. Simple 
clairvoyance and clairaudience occur in the waking 
state or in trance, and consists in the fact that a person is 
able to perceive hidden objects or scenes at a distance, 
or to hear as it were "inner voices" speaking to him. A 
higher degree of this ability is found in so-called "psy- 
chometry," whereby a person from contact with an 
object will construct its entire past history and that of 
persons connected with it. 

We quote the following experience of Maurice 
Maeterlinck: 2 In September, 1913, while I was at 
Elberfeld, visiting Krall's horses, my wife went to 
consult Mme. M., gave her a scrap of writing in my 
hand — a note dispatched previous to my journey and 
containing no allusion to it — and asked her where I was 
and what I was doing. Without a second's hesitation, 
Mme. M. declared that I was very far away, in a 
foreign country where they spoke a language which she 
did not understand. She saw first a paved yard, shaded 
by a big tree, with a building on the left and a garden 
at the back: a rough but not inapt description of 
Krall's stables, which my wife did not know and which 
I myself had not seen at the time when I wrote the note. 
She next perceived me in the midst of the horses, ex- 
amining them, studying them with an absorbed, anxious 
and tired air. This was true, for I found those visits, 
which overwhelmed me with a sense of the marvellous 
and kept my attention on the rack, singularly exhaust- 
ing and bewildering She made two rather 

1 For examples see : Mrs. Sidgwick, "On the Evidence for Clairvoy- 
ance," in Proceedings, 8. P. R., vii: 30-99; Podmore, "Studies, etc.," pp. 
421-435; Myers, "Human Personality," vol. I, pp. 197, 553-559, vol. II, 
pp. 217, 25i. 

2 "The Unknoicn Quest," pp. 68-70. 



Spiritism and Psychology 211 

curious mistakes in this experiment. The first was that, 
at the time when she saw me in Kr all's stable-yard, I 
was no longer there Experience shows, how- 
ever, that this is a usual error among psychometers. 
They do not, properly speaking, see the action at the 
very moment of its performance, but rather the custo- 
mary and familiar action . . . ." 

Maeterlinck also relates an incident of clairvoyance 
of a future event occurring in trance: 1 "On the 8th of 
May Dr. Teste magnetizes Mme. Hortense — in the 
presence of her husband. She is no sooner asleep than 
she announces that she has been pregnant for a fort- 
night, that she will not go her full time, that she will 
take fright at something, that she will have a fall, and 
that the result will be a miscarriage. She adds that, on 
the 12th of May, after having had a fright, she will 
have a fainting fit which will last for eight minutes ; and 
she then describes, hour by hour, the course of her mal- 
ady, which will end in three days' loss of reason, from 
which she will recover." On awaking, she retains no 
recollection of anything that has passed ; it is kept from 
her; . . . ." yet her prediction comes true. 

The value of telsesthesia in showing that certain in- 
formation obtained through spiritistic trance mediums 
need not be referred to spirit agency, is too evident to 
need mention. 



Op. cit., pp. 114-115. 



CHAPTER VII. 

Spirit Identity. 

The total value of automatic messages purporting to 
come from the departed is not to be found in the pos- 
sible establishing of their authenticity, for the phe- 
nomena in themselves, quite apart from the question of 
revelation from the spirit world, offer great promises 
of an extended knowledge of our psychical life. It is 
in a large measure from this point of view that they 
have been studied by those interested in psychical re- 
search, and results so far obtained, although often 
vague, hold out good promises for the future. 1 

At the present, however, we are not directly con- 
cerned with this phase of the psychical phenomena, for 
in treating of Spiritism as a Religion our primary con- 
cern, in so far as these phenomena are considered, is to 
measure the weight of whatever evidence might be ad- 
duced for their authenticity. And this evidence will be 
found in the script or in the messages themselves. 

The matter generally accepted by critical authority 
as genuine, i. e., as transmitted by the medium from 
whatever source without intention to deceive, has been 
gathered since the early days of Spiritism and occupies 
a volume for our purposes prohibitive of criticism in 
toto. But so much has been written on the matter, and 
so searching has been the investigation of critics, that 
certain cases can be said to have been more or less uni- 
versally accepted as presenting a higher degree of evi- 
dence than the rest. Out of this select material we can 
but draw a few examples which to submit to criticism 
on these pages. The procedure, we think, will give a 

1 See presidential address by Mrs. Henry Sidgwick before the S. P. R. 
in Proceedings, xxii:l-19, and especially pp. 16 et seq. 



Spirit Identity 213 

fair expose of the evidential value of the best cases as a 
whole. 

The first George Pelham message is typical of 
earlier matter, and will, we think, convince any one that 
the information which it contains could not have been 
obtained by Mrs. Piper by ordinary means, for years 
before his death G. P. had had a single sitting with 
Mrs. Piper, and at that time his name had been care- 
fully concealed from her. And Mr. Podmore asserts 
that there is no reason to suppose that she knew of the 
existence of such a person. 1 G. P. revealed himself 
suddenly through Phinuit and gave a considerable 
amount of information regarding himself which not 
only was immediately verified, but was of a nature to 
exclude the possibility of fishing, of guess-work, or of 
coincidence. This is strongly confirmed in the subse- 
quent Howard sittings. 

On the other hand, throughout those G. P. revela- 
tions no knowledge is conveyed which was not in the 
present consciousness of the sitters — John Hart and 
the Howards — and, obviously, telepathic communica- 
tion from these to subconscious strata of Mrs. Piper's 
mind dramatically representing themselves as Phinuit 
or G. P. would fully account for the phenomena and 
completely dispense with recourse to the preternatural. 

The "Tyson" incident differs from the foregoing in 
that, while details were correct, there was an error in 
time, but this is very common in telepathic and telaes- 
thetic impressions, and would strengthen rather than 
weaken the telepathic hypothesis. 

The only obstacle to a natural explanation lies in the 
realistic impersonation of G. P., which was consistently 
sustained for a considerable period of time. Between 
1892 and 1897 some 150 persons had sittings with Mrs. 
Piper, among whom were thirty friends of G. P.'s in 
life, and out of these all but one were recognized. 

1( 'The Newer Spiritualism," p. 173. 



214 Spirit Identity 

But all this may be explained if we consider, on the 
hypothesis of telepathy, the strong impression of G. P. 
subconsciously received by Mrs. Piper from his inti- 
mate friend, John Hart — that the G. P. character such 
as known both consciously and subconsciously by John 
Hart in all its completeness was conveyed to Mrs. Piper 
with a force proportionate to the clearness, vividness 
and accuracy with which it was contained in John 
Hart's mind, and consequently produced an impres- 
sion of a depth, clearness, vividness and accuracy suffi- 
cient to create a "secondary personality" which could 
subsequently be brought back from her subconscious 
memory. This would explain the consistency of the 
impersonation and dispense with the necessity of a re- 
peated reproduction of G. P. from the minds of his 
friends present at subsequent sittings. It would also 
explain the easy and accurate discovery of the friends 
by the bond of identity or at least close similarity ex- 
isting between the "G. P. personality" in Mrs. Piper's 
mind and that consciously retained in the mind of the 
friends. In our opinion there is no need for having re- 
course to an objective G. P. personality revealing it- 
self through the mind or organs of Mrs. Piper. 

The most interesting cases in a study of apparent 
spirit identity are found in the soi-disant controls of de- 
parted who in their life had been closely connected with 
Psychical Research. Mr. Edmund Gurney died in the 
summer of 1888 and in that year a certain lady claimed 
his control. He appeared in Mrs. Piper's trances the 
following year during her sittings with Professor 
James who failed, however, to see the slightest inner 
verisimilitude in the impersonation. 1 Sir Oliver Lodge, 

1 Prof. James in Proceedings, 8. P. R., v : 656 : "It was bad enough, 
and I confess that the human being in me was so much stronger than 
the man of science, that I was too disgusted with Phinuit's tiresome 
twaddle even to note it down. When later the phenomena developed into 
pretended direct speech from Gurney himself, I regretted this, for a com- 
plete record would have been useful. I can now merely say that neither 
then, nor at any other time, was there, to my mind, the slightest inner 
verisimilitude in the impersonation." 



Spirit Identity 215 

during sittings with Mrs. Piper in 1889-90, also had 
messages purporting to come from Gurney, 1 but their 
contents at times are utterly unlike anything we would 
expect from so eminent a man. This for example : 2 

Lodge: "Gurney, what about those table-tilting and 
physical things? Is there anything in them?" 

G.: "Mostly fraud. The rest electricity. A per- 
son's nerves are doing they don't know what. They 
are often not conscious when they move things." .... 

L.: "And what about those Indian tricks? Mango 
and basket tricks?" 

G.: ". . . . you mean that cutting up a child and 
flinging its legs and arms about." 

L.: "Yes, that's one of them." 

G.: "It is a veil, Lodge, an ethereal veil between 
the thing and the spectators. They can't see what 
really happens. It's a delusion, it's done through 
ether. It's not true spiritualism, it's a gap in ether. 
But true spiritualism has been real ever since the first 
life that had any humanity in it." 

On this Sir Oliver remarks: 3 "The casual reference 
of unknown phenomena, part to fraud, the rest to 
'electricity,' though quite common with uneducated peo- 
ple, was especially unworthy of Edmund Gurney .... 
In Phantasms of the Living he writes humorously 
of the excellent people who are ready to jump lightly 
from the hypothesis of 'fraud' to that of 'electricity,' 
and suggests that they are equally innocent of either 
form of energy!" 

The Gurney control in the script of Mrs. Verrall and 
Mrs. Forbes, 4 who both had known Edmund Gurney, 
has no evidential value. Regarding Mrs. Holland's 

1 See Proceedings, 8. P. R., xxiii : 145 et seq. 

2 Ibid., p. 156. 

3 Ibid., p. 159. 

* Proceedings, 8. P. R., xx:102, 220, 223, 226, 229, 231, 244, 254, 257, 
263, 266, 269, 270, 275, 305-307, 395, 408, 415, 427. 



216 Spirit Identity 

Gurney control Sir William Barrett pronounces it 
singularly characteristic of his temperament, 1 while 
Podmore concludes his analysis of the case by saying 
that this control is marked by characteristics which are 
wholly irreconcilable with the character of the great 
man as he was known in life. 2 It should be noted that 
Mrs. Holland had never known him. 



Professor Henry Sidgwick died in the summer of 
1900 and his control appeared in the utterances of Mrs. 
Thompson in the beginning of the following year, 3 and 
later in the script of Mrs. Verrall. His alleged com- 
munications through other mediums are of less interest. 

Mr. Piddington, who was present when the Sidgwick 
control made its first appearance, writes 4 that he "felt 
that he was indeed speaking with and hearing the voice 
of the man whom (he) had known." Subsequent 
automatic writing under this control bears a very strik- 
ing resemblance to Professor Sidgwick's writing, which 

x Sir William F. Barrett, "On the Threshold of the Unseen," pp. 201- 
202: "The hypothesis that these messages are due to dramatic creations 
of Mrs. Holland's subliminal self becomes increasingly difficult to believe 
when we find other wholly different types of messages purporting to come 
from Mr. Ed. Gurney and the Hon. Rodin Noel, who were also entirely un- 
known to Mrs. Holland. When they were on earth I knew these dis- 
tinguished men personally, and was in frequent correspondence with each 
of them; hence from my own knowledge I can affirm that these communi- 
cations are singularly characteristic of the respective and diverse tempera- 
ments of each." 

2 Podmore, "The Newer Spiritualism," p. 202: "The Gurney control 
who communicates through Mrs. Holland is of another type. His con- 
stant exhortations addressed to the automatist are marked by an im- 
patience and brusquerie, verging on actual discourtesy, which are quite ir- 
reconcilable with the demeanor of the Edmund Gurney whom his friends 
knew." 

Before receiving the Gurney messages Mrs. Holland had read Myers' 
"Human Personality," in which there is frequent reference to Edmund 
Gurney (see Barrett, Op. cit., p. 199). 

For the Gurney control in Mrs. Holland's script see "Proceedings, 
S. P. R., xxi: 177-184, 191-194, 230-236, 241, 255, 271, 272-279, 291-295, 
327-365. 

s January 11th, 1901. 

4 Proceedings, 8. P. R., xviii: 236-237. 



Spirit Identity 217 

Mrs. Thompson is certain she has not seen. 1 Podmore, 
however, who does not think it excluded that she un- 
consciously might have seen writing from his pen, con- 
cludes 2 that "The substance of the communications con- 
tained nothing of an evidential nature; and (that) some 
of the remarks accredited to the Sidgwick control im- 
press one strongly as appropriate to the mind of the 
medium rather than to the mind purporting to com- 
municate." 

The Sidgwick communications in Mrs. Verrall's 
script 3 show a superior characterization, but this is not 
beyond what we would expect since Mrs. Verrall knew 
Professor Sidgwick well. Of evidential value there is 
very little, and test cases presented by the control were 
complete failures. We shall refer to one of these. 

On October 7th, 1903, it was stated in Mrs. Verrall's 
script that "Henry Sidgwick's message," previously al- 
luded to, was about three letters kept together. Some 
further references to the letters then followed, and at- 
tempts were made to give the contents of a letter dated 
June 9th, 1872. But no one seemed to know of such a 
letter. On October 12th, the script contained: "It was 
arranged that he should refer to these three letters"; 
but there was no reference to names. Then, on Decem- 
ber 25th and 26th, the script stated that Mrs. Sidgwick 
would know about the three letters, and later — January 
29th — "The letters are kept by some one — those we told 
of — you have not asked the right person." But Mrs. 
Sidgwick was unable to make anything of the various 
references. 4 



The appearance of the F. W. H. Myers control after 
the death of the great scholar so prominent in circles 

1 See comparison of writing in Op. cit., pp. 238-243. 

2 "The Newer Spiritualism," p. 203. 

8 Proceedings, 8. P. R., xx:26, 277-279, 295-298, 300, 301, 331, 332. 
4 Ibid., pp. 295-296. 



218 Spirit Identity 

connected with Psychical Research could not fail to 
arouse great interest, and there is a considerable abund- 
ance of communications purporting to come from this 
direction, the best of which are found in the script of 
Mrs. Holland, Mrs. Verrall and Mrs. Piper. The evi- 
dential value of the communications of the Myers- 
Holland control * is of a purely negative character in so 
far as they clearly point to the medium's subconscious 
Self as their source. The following communication 
from the Myers control appears in Mrs. Holland's 
script of November 19th, 1905 : 2 

M.: "It is perhaps unfair to state that .... is too 
credulous, but his peculiar constitution of mind lends it- 
self to the machinations of fraud. In matters of this 
kind the Scientific mind is the poorest guide imaginable. 
The phenomena that will shortly be induced are utterly 
misleading. They will not be completely fraudulent — 
at least, not consciously so — but the influence will be of 
the Poltergeist type, and the lowest forms of physical 
magnetism will be called upon to produce what the 
agent in question will announce as physical manifesta- 
tions. No levitation but the movement without contact 
will be of the lowest class — not the back of the — (The 
impulse to write was so strong that I obeyed it in spite 
of knowing that I should soon be interrupted — and at 
this point the interruption came.)" 
Monday, Nov. 20th, 1905, 9:15 a. m. 

M. : "Brief day and bright day and sunset red 

Early in the evening the stars are overhead — 
Myriads of intended messages break off 

short. 
Broken threads are hard to knit again — 

"The properties apertaining (sic) to the deception 
will be daringly simple. The old familiar trickery which 

1 Proceedings, 8. P. B., xxi: 177-184, 191-219, 221-223, 224, 230-240, 241, 
242, 245-249, 252-256, 272-283, 291-295, 365-367. 

2 Ibid., pp. 273-274. 



Spirit Identity 219 

is so old it has almost been abandoned in favor of more 
elaborate appliances. 

"There will be a piece of elastic in his left shirt 
sleeve — No — nothing so elaborate as a pneumatic 
glove. The table will be without openings or traps of 
any kind — that is to say in the upper part but insist 
on observing where the legs join the frame. 

"The luminous paste is an invention of his own." 

Here follows a communication by the Gurney con- 
trol in the same vein, and then : 

"Palladia — Mrs. Eustace Lucas — Annie Bird — 
Euphronia — Katie King — Eustonia — Pallonia . . . ." 

The whole message is a reference to the physical phe- 
nomena and evidently in part to Eusapia Palladino. 
On December 1st, the script continues: 1 

M.: " I am anxious — From an apparent 

trifle may rise the ruin of all we have been working for 
so long. 

"Materializing flowers we know all that of course, 
but it seems new to him and he has a strange gift of 
credulity. 

"There may be raps genuine enough of their kind — 
I concede the raps — Poltergeist merely — but the 
luminous appearances— the sounds of a semi-musical 
nature — the flower falling upon the table — Trickery — 
trickery. Of course there can be no searching. She 
would proffer excellent reasons against that — but other 
precautions can be taken." 
December 3rd, 10:45 p. m. 

M.: ". . . . Honest, hearty ridicule has a certain 
vivifying power it stirs the dry bones but the kind of 
ridicule this would bring would be the killing type. 

"Have we endured so long — done so much endured 
so much hoped so much only to come to an end in the 
course of the year now coming? It is a very sad thought 
to me." 



x Proceedings, 8. P. R., xxi: 276-278. 



220 Spirit Identity 

December 5th, Midnight. 

M.: ". . . . She is no fool far from it but she has 
the power of befooling — Wilson knows about it. 

"Miss J. will be the best help in this case — E. P. 
willing not to sit near her — but that can be easily over- 
borne .... 

"The trance condition is partially genuine the mani- 
festations are simply fraudulent. 

"Ask her to allow you to secure each foot in a slight 
cardboard box — case or cover. She will refuse for the 
instep does most of the phenomena of raps and move- 
ment " 

December 7th, 11:30 p. m. 

M.: "The lights are turned out and a screen is 
drawn before the fire — E. P. does not care for the en- 
vironment it is not sufficiently simpatica for her. If 
she wore soft shoes felt shoes there would be fewer im- 
posing raps and cracks. The toes can do it inside the 
boot 

"Pockets — inner pockets will hold a surprising 
amount. 

"Surely lazy tongs have been superseded by some- 
thing a little more modern." 



Myers seems gravely concerned with certain physical 
phenomena, particularly those of Eusapia Palladino, 
about to occur. But there is no reason for supposing 
that the real Myers has any connection with the com- 
munications. We have a twofold basis for this as- 
sumption. 

Before quoting the script in the Proceedings Miss 
Alice Johnson informs us 1 that she had received a 
letter from Mrs. Holland dated October 27, 1905, in 
which the latter tells how she has been reading a review 

1 Proceedings, 8. P. R., xxi:272. 



Spirit Identity 221 

of Maxwell's "Metaphysical Phenomena' which ap- 
peared in the Spectator on the seventh of that month. 
The review gives a lengthy and detailed treatment of 
the physical phenomena and criticises them very se- 
verely. Undoubtedly, much that appeared in Mrs. 
Holland's subsequent script may be traced to this 
source. 

The first references to fraudulent physical phe- 
nomena in the script quoted occurred on November 19, 
and on that very day Miss Johnson was engaged in 
helping Mr. Feilding in his preparations for sittings 
with Eusapia in Paris and the matter of physical phe- 
nomena was discussed. Miss Johnson herself believes 1 
that on this occasion there might have been telepathic 
communications between her and Mrs. Holland, which 
would, of course, account for part of the message. The 
physical phenomena were, moreover, subject to con- 
siderable discussion at the time, which all taken to- 
gether neutralizes the evidential value of the script in 
question. 

Our second reason for disregarding the evidence is 
found in a comparison between the views on the sub- 
ject of physical phenomena of the Myers control and of 
the real Myers. The Cambridge sittings had shaken 
Myers' faith in physical phenomena, and in Eusapia, 
it is true, but later he had publicly recanted 2 and ac- 
cepted some of her phenomena as genuine. His at- 
titude towards the whole subject as expressed in Hu- 
man Personality is quite different from that of 
Myers h. If after death he should have changed his 
mind on this subject he would certainly not have com- 
municated it to Mrs. Holland alone, but nothing of the 
kind occurs in the script of other mediums. 

These two points taken together to our mind not 
only disprove the identity of the communicating 

1 Proceedings, 8. P. R., xxi:274. 

'See Myers* letter in Light, Feb. 18, 1899. 



222 Spirit Identity 

Myers h with the real Myers, but clearly present the 
script in its essential points as a case parallel with telep- 
athy between the living. 1 

Again we quote Sir William Barrett, 2 who refers to 
a communication in Mrs. Holland's earliest scripts 
written in India and purporting to come from the late 
Mr. Myers. The script seems to give a description of 
Dr. Verrall, and ends as follows: "Send this to Mrs. 
Verrall, 5, Selwyn Gardens, Cambridge." Sir Wil- 
liam considers that in this case "the fetish of subliminal 
or telepathic knowledge is .... hard to invoke 
and becomes absurd." At the time Mrs. Holland, ac- 
cording to her statement, had not seen and had no con- 
ception of the address, which is not given in "Human 
Personality/' which she had read. But Mrs. Verrall's 
name occurs prominently in this work, especially in 
connection with crystal gazing and other psychical phe- 
nomena, and could not well have escaped the attention 
of Mrs. Holland when reading it, and it is not excluded 
that she might have seen the address of so prominent 
a person in some magazine or paper dealing with ques- 
tions of Psychical Research, and either failed to advert 
to it consciously or else subsequently forgotten it. Thus 
the impression could have been subliminally retained 
in Mrs. Holland's mind without her conscious knowl- 
edge thereof. Of course, there is no proof to show that 
this is the explanation, nor is there any to convince us 
that it is not. 

Mrs. Verrall developed automatic writing shortly 
after Myers' death, and references to the contents of a 
sealed envelope which Myers had left with Sir Oliver 
Lodge for the purpose of test appeared early in her 
script. Several references to Plato's Symposium were 

1 This seems to be the view taken by Miss Alice Johnson in her article 
in the Proceedings referred to, and also by Mr. Podmore in "The Newer 
Spiritualism," p. 206. 

*"On the Threshold of the Unseen," pp. 202-203. 



Spirit Identity 223 

made in connection with Professor Sidgwick and Mr. 
Myers. Between February 12th and April 17th, 1903, 
there were frequent allusions to a letter or envelope 
sealed with a four-lettered inscription on the seal and 
locked in a box. 1 Several times Dr. Hodgson's name 
was mentioned in connection with the box, who stated, 
however, that he had no knowledge of any box like that 
described. In April the script plainly stated that the 
"message inside" was from the Symposium, On July 
13th, 1904, it was communicated that the box referred 
to enclosed a sealed envelope given by Mr. Myers to 
Sir Oliver Lodge containing a passage from the Sym- 
posium, and similar communications were repeated at 
intervals. There was also reference to the contents of 
an envelope left with two other letters by Professor 
Sidgwick with his wife. When the envelope which Sir 
Oliver Lodge had received from Mr. Myers was taken 
from the bank where it had been kept in custody and 
opened — which took place on December 13th, 1904 — 
it was found that the message which it contained had 
no resemblance to the passage in the Symposium, nor 
did it refer to Professor Sidgwick. The whole experi- 
ment proved a complete failure. 2 

The Myers control in Mrs. Piper's script is of great 
interest and has afforded an abundance of material, the 
best of which, in so far as dramatic vitality and vraisem- 
blance of impersonation is concerned, was furnished 
during her English sitting in 1906 and 1907. To this 
we shall return presently in connection with cross- 
correspondence. 

In order to elicit from Myers p evidence of acquaint- 
ance with a circumstance in Frederic Myers' life which 
would be unknown to Mrs. Piper and her sitters, Mrs. 
Verrall, after some seances with the medium, asked Mrs. 



1 Proceedings, 8. P. B., xx:299. 

2 Ibid., pp. 301 and 78, 79, 172, 268, 271, 272, 299-301, 327, 399, 424, 
425, and Journal, 8. P. B., vii: 11-13, 32. 



224 Spirit Identity 

Sidgwick to give her some good question to be put to 
the control. 1 It is to be noted that since 1889 Mrs. 
Sidgwick had not seen Mrs. Piper except for a short 
visit paid in December, 1906, or January, 1907. 2 Mrs. 
Sidgwick's reply of January 19th, 1907, reads as fol- 
lows : 3 

"I have not succeeded in thinking of any question 
which could be asked the Myers control, of which the 
answer is verifiable but unknown to any one ; but I have 
thought of a question of which the answer is known to 
me and almost certainly unknown to you. When Mr. 
Myers paid his farewell visit to (my husband) at Terl- 
ing he and I had a conversation. It was out of doors in 
the porch of the house. I am not sure whether Mr. 
Myers had already seen (Mr. Sidgwick) for the last 
time, but in any case he knew that death must come be- 
fore many days. Mr. Myers sought that conversation 
in order to talk about a specific concrete subject, and 
he also spoke of another specific concrete subject in the 
course of the conversation. Can he remember anything 
about either subject and what he said? I could give 
further clues if you think it advisable, but anything I 
say had better be said in writing, so that we may know 
exactly what it is. He should be pressed for details of 
what he said — more than a mere general reference to 
the subject. If you approve of the question and would 
like to have it in reserve in case the occasion comes for 
asking it, I will write an account of the conversation, 
put it in a sealed envelope and send it with a covering 
letter to Mr. Piddington." 

The memorandum sent to Mr. Piddington on Janu- 
ary 22d, 1907, which remained unopened until Septem- 
ber 17th the same year, read in part as follows: 4 

1 Mrs. Henry Sidgwick, "An Incident in Mrs. Piper's Trance'* in Pro- 
ceedings, S. P. R., xxii:417-440. 

2 Ibid., p. 417, foot note. 
8 Ibid., pp. 417-418. 
*Ibid., p. 418. 



Spirit Identity 225 

"In August 1900, when Mr. Myers was at Terling 
Place for the purpose of taking leave of (Mr. Sidg- 
wick), he sought a conversation with me which took 
place out of doors in the porch of the house. What he 
wished to talk about was a memoir of (Mr. Sidgwick). 
He was determined that one should be written, had per- 
suaded (him) to write some reminiscences with a view 
to it, had at one time — since the knowledge of (Mr. 
Sidgwick's) illness — intended to write it himself, but 
had withdrawn from this on account of his own book 
and the short time remaining before his own expected 
death. He had then talked to (him) about its being 
written by Arthur Sidgwick. He wanted in this con- 
versation to charge me with the task of inducing (Mr. 
Arthur Sidgwick) to undertake it. He was to be told 
that H. (S.) approved, that F. W. H. M. desired it, 
and leisure was to be secured by ... . (inducing) 

him to resign some of his work " The rest of 

the memorandum contains further particulars referring 
to the subject and a conversation relating to the mode 
of burial which should be adopted, but to these matters 
no reference was made in the trance. 

At her sitting on January 21st, 1907, Mrs. Verrall 
told Myers p that she had a messages for him, asking 
him if he remembered having gone to see Mrs. Sidgwick 
at Terling shortly before her husband's death. To this 
Myers p replied in the affirmative, and again questioned 
if he remembered having spoken with her alone he an- 
swered that he referred to this. A subsequent question 
as to the place of the conversation he would not answer 
but asked for time to refresh his memory. He was then 
told that Mrs. Sidgwick wanted him to remember where 
he had spoken to her and what he had said to her. 1 

At the next sitting on January 22nd, the Myers p, 
although closely questioned by Mrs. Verrall, could give 
no other information than that he believed that on the 



*Op. cit., p. 419. 



226 Spirit Identity 

occasion in question he and Mrs. Sidgwick had taken 
a walk out of doors near some green shrubbery, that 
he had told her that his own loss, caused by Sidgwick's 
death, would be still greater than hers, that he had re- 
ferred to some matter to be written by Sidgwick and 
placed in a sealed envelope and also to "some work of 
(Sidgwick's) which (he) should like to have to bring 
out to live." 1 So far the Myers p had touched upon no 
point about which Mrs. Sidgwick had asked except the 
fact that the conversation took place outdoors which 
Mrs. Verrall knew. Mrs. Sidgwick considers it very 
unlikely that Frederic Myers in reality had spoken of 
a sealed envelope, and also that he had referred to un- 
finished work and the possibility of publishing it. She 
seems to feel that the experiment already is a failure. 2 

The next sitting (January 29th) shows positive error 
on the part of Myers. 3 Mrs. Verrall was of the opinion 
that the conversation referred to by Myers p at the 
previous sitting had not taken place in reality. But 
this she does not tell the control. The following com- 
munication was made: 

M p — "Now tell me about my talk with her. I must 
understand whether I talked this over with her on that 
day or at some other time." 

Mrs. V. — "I will tell you. Mrs. Sidgwick thinks 
that on that day you and she said such things ; 4 but that 
was not what she wanted you specially to remember." 

M.p — "Well if I am alive at all I do certainly recall 
mentioning this to her." 

Mrs. V. — "Yes; she says she is sure that you spoke 
on that subject; but she wants you to recall two specific 
things in your conversation with her at Terling which 
led to action on her part." 

1 Op. cit., pp. 420-421. 
•Ibid., p. 422. 
8 Ibid., pp. 422-423. 

*In a foot note Mrs. Verrall remarks: "This was a mistake. I am 
inclined to think the contrary." 



Spirit Identity 227 

Mp — "Let me think this over more carefully and I 
can be trusted I believe to reproduce it here as soon 
as I sufficiently recall." 

On February 5th Mr. Piddington was sitting with 
Mrs. Piper and the Myers control appeared. 1 Mr. 
Piddington suggested that Myers p might not have 
caught the word Terling in the question put to him by 
Mrs. Verrall on behalf of Mrs. Sidgwick, to which 
Myers p replied : 

Mp — "Oh yes, I positively never heard, i. e., to grasp 
the word before. You are right in this. I understand 
now and will go over that interview and if you refer 
to this I will give my answer to-morrow" 

On this Mrs. Sidgwick remarks 2 that she does not 
think that the cause of difficulty lay in Myers p not 
catching the word Terling. She considers the im- 
portant point to be that the conversation took place 
shortly before her husband's death, and the answers of 
Myers p to Mrs. Verrall show that he understood this. 

The next day, Mr. Piddington being alone with Mrs. 
Piper, the following communication was received: 3 

Mp — "I remember the name of the place to which you 
referred last time and I should say with regard to it 
that I remember vaguely making a suggestion to Mrs. 
Sidgwick regarding a certain document which I thought 
she would find necessary to be attended to." 

Mp — "Look into in case our good friend came over 
here. Besides I referred to matter pertaining to the 
College if I remember rightly; also a library matter 
which she will recall quickly." 

J. G. P.— "Yes, I will tell her." 

Mp — "I feel sure of the distinction between the 
places, i. e., my talk with her at T. and my own house." 

1 Op. cit., p. 423. 
"Ibid., foot note. 
» Ibid., p. 424. 



228 Spirit Identity 

Mrs. Sidgwick states that she is unable to recall any 
conversation on those subjects between Myers and her- 
self. 

The "library" and the "document" reappear at the 
sitting of February 13th, at which Mrs. Sidgwick was 
present and introduced in her own name. 1 The Myers p 
accepts the suggestion on the part of Mrs. Sidgwick 
that the Gurney library was meant, then refers to a 
document which concerned Mrs. Sidgwick after her 
husband's death and to her as saying that it did not 
matter so long as she gave the library. "I thought it 
a good suggestion, as it would serve as a memoriam." 
Rector communicating then asks if Mrs. Sidgwick 
understands, and upon her negative reply Myers p re- 
appears, asking if she does not remember a letter which 
he wrote to her about it before he "went away," and to 
which she replied that she thought the suggestion a 
good one. 

Mrs. Sidgwick can make nothing of the references 
to the "library" and the "document" and has no letters 
throwing light upon them. The reference recurs on 
February 20th, when Myers p urges her to look for such 
letters and says: "I distinctly remember writing you 
or talking with you and I believe I wrote about adding 
some of your own books to the College library." But 
Mrs. Sidgwick does not think it likely that she ever 
spoke or corresponded with Frederic Myers on this 
subject, and she is certain that it could not have been 
mentioned in a manner to make any particular impres- 
sion on either of them. 2 

On March 20th Myers p appeared again and wanted 
to know if Mrs. Sidgwick, who from now on was pres- 
ent at the sittings, remembered that he had made sug- 
gestions to her regarding a will; he then stated that he 
clearly remembered having spoken to her about it and 



*Op. cit., pp. 427-428. 
2 Op. cit., p. 428. 



Spirit Identity 229 

that it had something to do with Professor Sidgwick. 1 
Then again about his Life : 2 

Mp — "Yes and my advising you to see about — see 
(scrawl) about his life." 

Mrs. S. — "My advising you to see?" 

R 3 — "I can't tell you just what that word is. It 
sounds like Revnua of his life R." 

Mrs. S. — "R, e, u, n, u, a; is that it?" 

Mp — "Yes. It was to write it." 

Mrs. S.— "To write it?" "Yes, I remember." 

Then follows a reference to the death of Professor 
Sidgwick, and then: 

Mrs. S. — "Yes I quite understand. Can you re- 
member what you said about writing his life?" 

Mp — "I do very clearly. I remember referring to 
some letters and collecting them." 

Here follow some remarks regarding this work which 
represent the actual conversation between Frederic 
Myers and Mrs. Sidgwick. Myers p then makes men- 
tion of Professor Sidgwick and gives a message from 
him. Finally he promises to think over what he had 
said during the conversation regarding Professor 
Sidgwick's Life. 

After the sitting Mrs. Piper in her waking state sev- 
eral times referred to "Arthur" and "Eleanor" whom 
Arthur worked too hard and ought to give a rest. The 
name "Henry" was also mentioned. 4 

In a communication of April 2nd 5 Myers p again re- 
fers to the Life. He recollects having been willing to 
undertake the task himself, but, unable on account of 
other work, that he had suggested that Mrs. Sidgwick 
should collect certain letters for the purpose, and that 

*Op. cit., p. 428. 
1 Ibid., p. 429-430. 
3 Rector. 

* Op. cit., pp. 430-431. Professor Sidgwick's name was Henry, his wife's 
Eleanor, and his brother's Arthur. 
6 Ibid., pp. 431-434. 



230 Spirit Identity 

the proceeds of the Life should go to further a cause 
in which they were both interested. Mrs. Sidgwick's 
reply that she does not remember this last statement 
makes him change and say that it may have applied to 
his own work instead. He also refers to a photograph 
appropriate for reproduction. Mrs. Sidgwick recalls 
these statements to have been made in her conversation 
with Myers, except the reference to the letters and to 
the employment of the proceeds of the Life. The 
photograph she thinks refers to the obituary notice of 
Professor Sidgwick written by Myers and reproduced 
with a photograph in the Proceedings. 

Later on in the same sitting new reference is made to 
the Life, and Myers p mentions that he had suggested 
something about copyright to her. When she can not 
recollect this he explains his statement, saying that he 
meant copy and not copyright. He blames the mistake 
on Rector. He states having suggested that Arthur 
should assist her, and that this was the chief thing in 
their conversation at Terling. A few days later re- 
peated reference is made to Arthur and photographs. 

The last reference to the Terling conversation at the 
London sittings was made on April 30th in the ab- 
sence of Mrs. Sidgwick and with Mrs. Verrall as sit- 
ter. 1 In answer to her explanation of another question 
she wished Myers p to answer she received: 

Mp — "Oh yes I think I understand now. It was a 
long time before I understood about Terling the home 
of Lady Rayleigh. Tarling where Mrs. Sidgwick and 
I talked." 

We have quoted this case at great length, but on the 
one hand we realize its importance as a test case, on the 
other we feel that it would be impossible to come to a 
conclusion without a study of all the detail involved. 

In the whole series of communicaticfhs Myers p re- 
ferred to the following points which actually were part 

x Op. cit., p. 435. 



Spirit Identity 231 

of the Terling conversation, viz., 1 : That the conver- 
sation took place out of doors, 2 : That it concerned the 
writing of a biography of Mr. Sidgwick, 3 : That Myers 
had been very anxious that it should be written, 4 : That 
other impending work made him unable to undertake it 
himself, 5 : That Arthur Sidgwick should be connected 
with the work. 

The whole communication falls into two parts, that 
received at Mrs. Piper's sittings with Mrs. Verrall and 
with Mr. Piddington in the absence of Mrs. Sidgwick, 
and that received at her sittings with Mrs. Sidgwick. 
The two parts are very different. First of all, only the 
first of the five veridical references to the Terling con- 
versation was made during the first part of the sittings 
— that the conversation took place outdoors — and this 
fact was known to Mrs. Verrall. A number of other 
references are made, none of which can be remembered 
by Mrs. Sidgwick as having occurred in the conversa- 
tion, and some of which were such that if they had oc- 
curred they would not very likely have been forgotten. 
The references to a sealed envelope, to the editing of 
some unfinished work of Sidgwick's, to some College 
business and to the Gurney library were emphatic, de- 
liberate, and some of them repeated and insisted upon. 

The "library" reference might be explained if we as- 
sume a mix-up in the present Myers p communications 
with those received in February in Mrs. Verrall's script 
in which mention is made of "library." * But the other 
statements given gradually and cautiously, and con- 
cerning matters which Frederic Myers would have been 
liable to discuss with Mrs. Sidgwick, rather indicate 
that Myers p was engaged in guess work and "fishing," 
carefully feeling his way while completing his state- 
ments. When he thinks a statement correct — as in the 
case of the sealed letter — he makes it more definite and 
emphatic. 

1 Op. cit., p. 425. 



232 Spirit Identity 

The second part, as we have said, is very different. 
The communications begin with reference to the 
"library," and upon Mrs. Sidgwick's unguarded sug- 
gestion it becomes definitely the Gurney library. Next 
there is a document — Mr. Sidgwick's will — a very 
plausible subject of discussion at the time of his death. 
Something may have been said at Terling in regard to 
the will, but the subject would have been of very little 
interest since Mrs. Sidgwick alone was mentioned 
therein. Very likely these two points were guess work. 

We should notice that the various non-veridical refer- 
ences from now on cease to be made. On the hypothesis 
of guessing it would not have been difficult for the 
Myers p by this time to find out from the attitude of 
Mrs. Sidgwick — or possibly telepathically — that those 
references were incorrect, and thus to be able to elimi- 
nate from the matter likely to have been discussed at 
Terling anything relating to these things. This, of 
course, would facilitate further guess work. We need 
not say that working on this hypothesis we assume the 
Myers p to be a "secondary personality" of Mrs. Piper 
appearing in her trance, which of course would allow 
for abnormal acuteness and cunning. 

The veridical references in the second part of the sit- 
tings were not all given without circumspection, nor 
were they all fully correct. The statement as to the 
Memoir came piecemeal and began in a very confused 
manner. Mrs. Sidgwick remarks 1 that "Rector's ina- 
bility to catch a word which should have been 'memoir,' 
or an equivalent, gave Myers p an opportunity, had he 
needed it, of developing the idea in some different way 
and of denying that it was a biography that was to be 
written. If (she) had not a little later somewhat un- 
guardedly accepted the interpretation in an unequiv- 
ocal manner, he might have found it necessary to put 
out further feelers." 



1 Op. cit., p. 437. 



Spirit Identity 233 

Myers' anxiety that the biography should be written 
and his declining the task on account of other pressing 
work were true to reality. It was also true that he pro- 
posed Arthur Sidgwick's agency in executing the work. 
But it should be noted that Frederic Myers had pro- 
posed that Arthur Sidgwick should write the biog- 
raphy, not that he should help Mrs. Sidgwick in do- 
ing it. This, she states, was her own desire, 1 which fact, 
of course, would indicate that the Myers p statement had 
its source in communication from her mind. 

As a test the experiment was a complete failure be- 
cause all veridical references to the Terling conver- 
sation concerned facts known to one of the actual sit- 
ters and might therefore have been communicated in 
the manner of thought transference to the mind of Mrs. 
Piper. The assumption that this is what actually took 
place is rather confirmed by the fact that of the five 
veridical references only one was given in the first part 
of the communications, and this was the only one known 
to Mrs. Verrall; the other four were given when Mrs. 
Sidgwick arrived on the scene. Another circumstance 
pointing in the same direction is found in the accord- 
ance of the information given by Myers p with the views 
of the sitter rather than with those of Frederic Myers. 2 

x 0p. cit., p. 436. 

2 We quote a remark by Dr. Lapponi bearing upon this fact 
("Ipnotismo e Spiritismo," pp. 183-184): "Altro fatto non meno sor- 
prendente e la facilita con cui nei loro gusti gli spiriti sanno addatassi 
a quelli dei loro devoti cultori. Si dirrebbe, che, come l'antica Pitonessa 
nel rendere i suoi oracoli parteggiava per il re Filippo, cost oggi gli 
spiriti parteggino per le opinioni professate da chi li consulta; pii con le 
persone pie; amorevoli con chi ama i suoi care; — inghilterra gli spirite 
sono sceptici, discorsivi, avveduti ; in Germania, mistici, speculative, 
transcendentali ; e in Francia, libertini, generosi, spensierati frivoli. Negli 
State Uniti Americani, essi sono positivi, dommatici, arditi, e proclamano 
la metempsicosi; — Presso i Mormoni e nell' Utah, approvano e incielano 
la poligamia. . . .In Russia celebrano con grandi lodi la religione 
ortodossa, e incoraggiano con tempo la propaganda nichilista. In lspania 
invece fanno voti che tutte le societa spiritistiche se uniscano e si in- 
corporino colla massoneria. . . ." 



234 Spirit Identity 

The strongest case indicating spirit identity in the 
Myers p communications is the Lethe incident. 1 Un- 
fortunately it is too complicated to allow of a full ex- 
position or even of an adequate treatment in this 
limited space, but we shall try to bring out the points 
which bear the main burden of evidence. 2 

Towards the end of a sitting of March 23d, 1908, Mr. 
Dorr asked Myers p: "What does the word Lethe sug- 
gest to you?" Answers were given in part and in a 
confused manner and the word cave written. Upon 
waking Mrs. Piper muttered pavia and then: 

"Sybil — Olympus — water — Lethe 

Put them all together — Entwined love — beauti- 
ful shores — 
Pharao's daughter came out of the water — 
Warm — sunlit — love. 
Lime leaf — heart — sword — arrow 
I shot an arrow through the air 
And it fell I know not where." 3 

Then she saw a vision of a lady which she describes 
thus: 4 

"Lady — I want to say that the walls came out, and 
in the air was a lady who had no clothes on; and in her 
hand she had a hoop and two pointed things, and she 
pulled a string, and she pointed it straight at me, and I 
thought it would hit me in the eye. And Mr. Myers 
put his hand up and stopped her. She had a hoop, and 
there was only half of the hoop there." 

1 Podmore in "The Newer Spiritualism*' says (p. 262): "It must, I 
think, be admitted on all hands that the method of answering the Lethe 
question was well devised; and that this is precisely the kind of evidence 
demanded for the proof of spirit-identity; and that, though no single case 
can, of course, be conclusive, yet that if evidence of this kind were multi- 
plied the presumption in favor of the reality of spirit communication 
might at length become irresistible." 

2 For the Lethe incident see J. G. Piddington in Proceedings, B. P. R., 
xxiv: 86-142. 

3 Op. cit., p. 89. 

4 Ibid. 



Spirit Identity 235 

At subsequent sittings Myers p, or Hodgson p speak- 
ing for him, repeated the words "Cave," "Iris" and 
"Clouds," gave the word "Flowery Banks" and wrote 
that Iris was the woman shooting. 1 "Pavia" was re- 
peated several times. On March 24th, Hodgson p con- 
trolling, Mr. Dorr asked what Myers p meant by the 
winds of which he had spoken, and received in answer: 2 

H p — "Yes, clouds — arrow — Iris — Cave — Mor MOR 
Latin for sleep Morpheus — Cave." 

Dorr — "Good. I understand what you are after 
now. But can't you make it clearer what there was pe- 
culiar about the waters of Lethe?" 

Up — "Yes, I suppose you think I am affected in the 
same way but I am not." 

On waking up Mrs. Piper saw written on the wall 
"C," and then afterwards, as though something came in 
between, "Y X." 3 On March 30th the word was 
spelled "CYNX." Later variations of the word ap- 
peared. 4 Then, in the waking stages Mrs. Piper said: 
"Mr. Myers says: No poppies ever grew on Elysian 
shores." 5 

The whole series of communications was utterly ir- 
relevant both to Mr. Dorr, Mrs. Verrall and Mr. Gerald 
Balfour, but Mr. Piddington searched the classics till he 
found in the eleventh book of Ovid's "Metamor- 
phoses" a passage which in main justifies the answers 
given by the communicators. 6 

None of those present could recall having read the 
eleventh book of the "Metamorphoses" Mr. Pidding- 
ton makes a careful survey of the classical reading of 

1 Op. cit., pp. 90-91. 

2 Ibid., p. 91 
8 Ibid., p. 94. 
4 Ibid., p. 95. 
8 Ibid., p. 97. 

•Ovid, "Metamorphoses" ix: 41 0-748. The story runs as follows: Ceyx, 
King of Trachim, had been shipwrecked and drowned. Meanwhile Alcyone, 
his queen, implored Juno for his safety, who sends Iris to "seek speedily 
the drowsy court of Somnus {sleep) and order him to send to Alcyone a 



236 Spirit Identity 

the sitters as well as of the medium, and comes to the 
conclusion that Mrs. Piper had little or no acquaintance 
with classical authors, that Mr. Dorr had not read it, 
that Mrs. Verrall had lectured on Ovid at Newnham 
College but that her lectures had not included the 
"Metamorphoses/' which she could not recall having 
read, 1 and as for Piddington himself, he had not seen 
the passage until he happened upon it after the sittings. 

Frederic Myers, however, had an intimate acquaint- 
ance with classical literature, and there is no reason for 
supposing that he should not have read the book in 
question. 2 In so far as his knowledge in life is con- 
cerned, there would therefore be nothing absurd in sup- 
posing that the references to the Lethe passage should 
have come from him. Throughout the communication 
there is an abundance of other references to classical 
literature, which would be rather the thing to expect 
from Myers. 

Of course, Mrs. Piper knew of Frederic Myers' 
literary tastes, and it would be natural for her trance 
personality to associate his name with references of this 
kind. That she claims Myers as communicator does 
not, therefore, prove anything. But from where does 
she receive the information? Of course, it may have 
come partly from Mrs. VerralFs mind, partly, perhaps, 
from some mind outside the circle. Mr. Dorr had read 
in childhood Blueflnch's "Age of Fable" 3 in which the 
Ovidian stories referred to in the script occur. That 
subconscious impressions of this reading may have lin- 

vision, in the form of the dead Ceyx, to reveal the sad truth." Iris "im- 
printing her bended boiv upon the sky seeks .... King Sleep's abode . . . 
beneath a cloud." There is a cave, the home and sanctuary of Sleep. From 
the foot of the rock containing the cave issues the stream of the water of 
Lethe. "Before the cavern's entrance abundant poppies bloom and herbs 
innumerable. . . ." From among his thousand sons Somnus chooses 
Morpheus to produce the dream vision of Ceyx. (The words in italics are 
found in the automatic script.) 

x 0p. cit. p. 131. 

2 Ibid., pp. 128 et seq. 

8 Ibid., p. 142. 



Spirit Identity 237 

gered in his mind is not unthinkable — on the contrary, 
it has been shown that impressions received in child- 
hood and later apparently completely obliterated have 
lingered in the latent memory and returned to con- 
sciousness in old age. There would be nothing un- 
natural, then, in supposing that the test part of the 
trance communication was drawn from Mr. Dorr's sub- 
conscious memory. 

Of course, this robs the case of unquestionable posi- 
tive evidence for intervention of spirits. But the en- 
semble of literary references in the script and the 
strong, dramatic impersonation certainly make an evi- 
dential contribution which can not be easily dismissed, 
and we feel that while the case does not compel us to 
accept this evidence as conclusive, yet it should incline 
us to leave the question of spirit-identity open. 

Richard Hodgson died early in 1906 while playing 
handball and the Hodgson control appeared in Mrs. 
Holland's script on February 9th that year. 1 It should 
be mentioned that shortly before she had seen his 
obituary notice in the newspapers. But the Hodgson^ 
communications show very little of an evidential 
nature. 2 

The greatest activity of this control is shown in the 
Piper trances both in England 3 and in the United 
States. 4 The English sittings are of little interest in 
so far as evidence for identity is concerned. For test 
purposes intimate English friends of Hodgson's hither- 
to not connected with the active work of the Society 
for Psychical Research were introduced anonymously 
after the trance had begun, but the results obtained 

1 For the Hodgson Control in Mrs. Holland's automatic writing see 
Alice Johnson in Proceedings, 8. P. R., xxi: 303-31 5. 
2 Podmore, "The Newer Spiritualism," pp. 212-214. 

3 Mrs. H. Sidgwick and J. G. Piddington, "Note on Mrs. Piper's Hodgson 
Control in England in 1906-7," in Proceedings, 8. P. R., xxiii: 122-126, and 
Sir Oliver Lodge, Ibid., pp. 226-255. 

4 Prof. William James, "Report on Mrs. Piper's Hodgson Control," in 
Proceedings, 8. P. R., xxiii :2-121. 



238 Spirit Identity 

were purely negative. 1 Sir Oliver Lodge calls both the 
Myers p and the Hodgson p of the English sittings 
"rather shadowy, and so to speak uninteresting com- 
municators" with whom he was not strongly im- 
pressed. 2 

The Hodgson control studied by Professor James in 
sittings with Mrs. Piper in America are of much greater 
evidential value. 3 The impersonation is usually good 
and there is a great abundance of truthful information 
communicated to the sitters. Professor James, how- 
ever, thinks that any single event communicated could 
have its source either in lucky chance-hits or in in- 
formation received from Hodgson in lifetime by Mrs. 
Piper and stored up "either supraliminally or sub- 
liminally" in her memory. 4 Mrs. Piper, it must be re- 
membered, had known Hodgson well for many years. 
For these and other reasons Professor James pro- 
nounces the Hodgson p case an exceptionally poor one, 
and considers that for successful given information 
"there are far more naturalistic explanations available 
than is the case with the other spirits who have pro- 
fessed to control Mrs. Piper. 5 



Before drawing general conclusions we shall briefly 
consider the evidence offered by cross-correspondence. 
The idea, of course, is that some one intelligence is di- 
recting the communications to the different mediums 
and that this intelligence might be shown not only to be 
external to them, but to belong to the world of spirits. 

1 Proceedings, 8. P. R., xxiii:123. 

2 Ibid., pp. 282-283. 

8 Podmore says ("The Newer Spiritualism" p. 215) that it "seems to 
have been one of the most lifelike and dramatic impersonations of the 
whole series given through Mrs. Piper, and many times relevant state- 
ments were made of an intimate kind such as could scarcely have pro- 
ceeded from Mrs. Piper herself." 

* Proceedings, 8. P. R., xxiii: 5 and 4. 

5 Ibid., p. 5. 



Spirit Identity 239 

The evidence for spirit direction of the corre- 
spondence Miss Alice Johnson thinks will be found in 
the fact that the script of each individual medium is 
quite unintelligible to her, and that the clue to the mes- 
sage is found in the corresponding script of one of the 
other mediums. 1 Of course, there are many cases 
which can not be explained merely by chance coinci- 
dence. In these cases we must resort to a comparison 
with the telepathic phenomena, but the question is 
whether they show that we have to deal with telepathy, 
or a similar mode of communication from the dead, or 
whether telepathy from a living person would offer 
satisfactory analogy. 

First of all, chance telepathy from the living must 
be considered excluded on the ground that the com- 
municating agency shows a definite purpose and de- 
sign in directing the communications. Chance impres- 
sions of telepathic nature might well produce similar 
statements in the script of the various automatists, but 
in good cases of cross-correspondence one script shows 
no similarity to the other and the message becomes in- 
telligible only when the different scripts are taken to- 
gether. 

Miss Johnson refers 2 to the "Ave Roma Immortalis" 
as the clearest case of what she considers typical cross- 
correspondence. Of course this script is far from clear 
in itself, and not even Mrs. Verrall understood it when 
the clue "Ave Roma Immortalis" came from Mrs. 
Holland. There is no necessary connection between 
the various expressions in Mrs. Verrall's script except 
that they seem to refer to the Papacy. And this refer- 
ence is perfectly clear without the "clue." We think 
that Miss Johnson admits this. 



1 Alice Johnson, "On the Automatic Writing of Mrs. Holland," chapter 
VII, "The Theory of Cross-Correspondence," in Proceedings, 8. P. R., 
xxi:369. 

2 Op. cit., p. 387. 



240 Spirit Identity 

One way out might be found in assuming that Mrs. 
Verrall's script had no further source than her own 
subliminal mind, and that Dr. Verrall, who already on 
the fourth of March had drawn his conclusion as to its 
meaning, simply picked the "Ave Roma Immortalis" 
which occurred three days later in Mrs. Holland's 
script, as a very plausible counterpart. But we do not 
think the hypothesis of mere chance coincidence between 
Dr. Verrall's interpretation of his wife's script and the 
sentence in Mrs. Holland's script warranted, especially 
in view of the subsequent sentence occurring in the lat- 
ter: "How could I make it any clearer without giving 
her the clue?" Mrs. Holland's trance personality evi- 
dently intends the first sentence to refer to a cross- 
correspondence. 

Miss Johnson offers the following alternatives: 
1. Since the topic was in Dr. Verrall's mind, a frag- 
ment thereof may have been transmitted from him to 
Mrs. Holland; 2. Again it may have been transmit- 
ted from his mind to that of his wife, and from her to 
Mrs. Holland; 3. Mrs. Verrall may have interpreted 
her script subliminally and conveyed the idea of it tele- 
pathically to Mrs. Holland. But she rejects the three 
hypotheses on the ground that Mrs. Holland's script 
reproduced nothing that had appeared in Mrs. 
Verrall's, but rather supplied the clue to complete Mrs. 
Verrall's allusions. Of course, whether Mrs. Holland's 
script actually presents a clue is very questionable. 
Miss Johnson furthermore argues that the second 
sentence in Mrs. Holland's script — "How could I make 
it any clearer without giving her the clue?" — shows "the 
deliberate intention of the control to prevent Mrs. 
Verrall from understanding or guessing the meaning 
of her script." 

First of all, assuming that the direction of a cross- 
correspondence is undertaken by a "secondary per- 
sonality" developed in an automatist, we must also take 



Spirit Identity 241 

for granted that the normal personality of the autom- 
atist has no knowledge of the activities of the 
"secondary personality." This is necessary in order not 
to impugn the automatist's good faith, and is in ac- 
cordance with the results of studies of "secondary per- 
sonalities." If we grant this, it would not be difficult 
to accept Mrs. Verrall's subliminal self as being the 
director of the correspondence and in that capacity in- 
fluencing Mrs. Holland's subliminal self by communi- 
cation at a distance. We shall have occasion to return 
to this hypothesis in connection with the other speci- 
men of cross-correspondence. 1 

The "Sesame and Lilies" incident is of a far more 
complicated nature. 2 It is not difficult to detect the 
action of a directing intelligence throughout the, whole 
correspondence. The passages in Miss Mac's script 
most obviously referring to Ruskin's "Sesame and 
Lilies 33 are those of July 25th and 27th (D and E re- 
spectively). 

"A blue book bound in blue leather with ended 
paper and gold tooling," and 

"Sidgwick, Sesame and Lilies — lotus the flower 
of repentance." 

1 It may also be conceived that a reading of Marion Crawford's book 
on Rome might have influenced the correspondence. If we suppose that 
the ideas contained in Mrs. Verrall's script, especially those of the vic- 
torious struggles of Christian and Papal Rome, with possible reference 
to Gregory the Great, Leo XIII, etc., reached the subliminal mind of Mrs. 
Holland, they might there have been associated with ideas from the 
Crawford book, and suggested to her that this book was what the script 
referred to. Her script, then, could be explained as a broad reference to 
the book beyond which she could not go without plainly solving the whole 
riddle. The final sentences in the book read: "Together, the thoughts 
of love and reverence rise in words, and with them comes the deep wonder 
at something very great and high. For he himself (who loves Rome) is 
grown grey and war-worn in the strife of a few poor years, while through 
five and twenty centuries Rome has faced war and the world; and he, a 
gladiator of life, bows his head before her, wondering how his own fight 
shall end at last, while his lips pronounce the submission of his own 
mortality to her abiding endurance — Ave Roma Immortalis, moriturus Te 
Salutat." (Francis Marion Crawford, "Ave Roma Immortalis, Studies 
from the Chronicles of Rome," 1898.) 

2 See chapter IV, pp. 110 et seq. 



242 Spirit Identity 

The obvious references to Ruskin in Miss Verrall's 
script occur on August 12th and 22nd (G and J re- 
spectively) : 

"praeterita rediviva," and 

"Unto this last that was the message to be given. 
— note that the words are a clue." 

These four pieces of script would be sufficient to 
make the combination of Ruskin's three books. Mrs. 
Verrall's script of August 19th (H) is indicative of 
cross-correspondence with the catchword "lilies" and 
the nature of the "puzzle" — a literary allusion, and that 
of Miss Verrall on the same day (J) refers to Miss 
Mac's script of July 26 (D) and to the more commonly 
known edition of "Sesame and Lilies" 

Whether any reference to the mottoes is intended or 
not is not clear. Miss Mac's message of July 19th (B) 
has reference to lilies "that grow by Sharon's dewy 
rose" and to "the dust shall be converted into fine gold." 
The "Lilies" motto "As the Lily among thorns, so is 
my love" may be connected with the "lilies" in the 
script, but the word appears very frequently in the 
series and this connection is not obvious and need not 
be assumed. Nor need we assume that "the dust shall 
be converted into fine gold" has any reference to the 

"Sesame" motto "Out of it cometh bread and 

dust of gold." After all, there is a difference between 
the ideas "dust of gold" and "dust shall be converted 
into gold." If we discard the connection the intro- 
ductory B -script would then contain 

(a) the catchword "lilies" ; 

(b) an exhortation to search the automatic script dili- 
gently, and out of the dust of seemingly meaningless 
scribble will come gold — i. e. } proof of spirit-identity. 

Certainly this both explains and gives a raison d'etre 
to B. If we accept this alternative it would be suffi- 
cient for the directing intelligence to be familiar with 



Spirit Identity 243 

Ruskin's three books in question and to have seen the 
edition of "Sesame and Lilies" bound in blue and gold. 

We shall now inquire into the possibility of the di- 
recting intelligence being found in the mind of a liv- 
ing person. 

The cross-correspondence must have been planned 
not later than March 17th, 1908, when Miss Verrall 
wrote script A in which "Sesame and Lilies" occurs. 
On that date the Verralls did not know of the existence 
of the Macs — as a fact this knowledge came to them on 
September 26th when the whole series of script was 
completed. 

Miss Mac did not know the Verralls before the series 
of script was completed, but she knew of Mrs. Verrall 
at least in January, 1908, when she read Myers' 
"Human Personality/' where mention is made particu- 
larly of her crystal visions. No mention is made of 
Miss Verrall in that work. Of course, she might have 
heard or read of Miss Verrall in some other connection, 
which we can not now verify. "Human Personality" 
does not treat of cross-correspondence, but the subject 
had been so much in the air that it is probable that Miss 
Mac knew of it before reading Miss Johnson's report 
on Mrs. Holland's script 1 in June that year. This, 
however, is another thing which we can not verify. But 
the "Sesame and Lilies" is far too elaborate to be likely 
to constitute a first experiment on her part. 

The most plausible theory, to our mind, is the follow- 
ing: 

The reading about Mrs. Verrall in "Human Person- 
ality" caused telepathic communication from Miss 
Mac's subconscious mind to that of Mrs. Verrall. Mrs. 
VerralPs subconscious mind, then, desirous to prove 
the identity of the spirit which it may have imper- 
sonated, conceived the idea of establishing cross-cor- 

1 In "Proceedings, 8. P. R., xxi:166 et seq. 



244 Spirit Identity 

respondence between this unknown person (Miss Mac), 
Miss Verrall and herself, and the subject of the cor- 
respondence having been planned her subconscious 
mind — which we may conceive as having assumed a 
Sidgwick v personality — undertook the direction 
thereof. This would explain references in the script 
to Mrs. VerralFs script in 1907, 1 also the great elab- 
oration of her script of August 19th, 1908 (H), with 
its promise of ultimate success. 

The hypothesis may seem a little bold, but we think 
it will find confirmation in another cross-corre- 
spondence, which for lack of space we can not quote, 
but for which we have to refer the reader to the reports 
in the Proceedings 2 or to Mr. Podmore's treatment of 
the subject. 3 We refer to the "Latin Message" sup- 
posedly connected with the "Hope Star Browning" cor- 
respondence, in which the Myers control was the pre- 
sumed directing intelligence writing through Mrs. 
Piper, Mrs. Verrall and Miss Verrall. We quote Mr. 
Podmore's conclusion: 4 

"It would appear .... from the four months' 
trial of the Latin message that the trance personality 
which the experimenters call Myers — P., .... had 
not even at the end of the sittings grasped the scheme of 
cross-correspondence; was so far from grasping it, in- 
deed, that not even the numerous hints given in the 
course of the dialogue succeeded in conveying that idea. 
From this it would seem to follow, not merely that the 
Piper-Myers is an intelligence of distinctly inferior ca- 
pacity, but that it is not identical with the intelligence, 
claiming to emanate from the same discarnate source, 
which has for years past been elaborating, through Mrs. 
Verrall's hand, a scheme of complex cross-correspond- 
ences." 



1 See under A. 

2 Proceedings, 8. P. P., xxii : 59-77, 320-397, et alibi passim. Ibid., xxir: 
11-13, 18, 134, 161, 262. 

•Podmore, "The Newer Spiritualism," pp. 246-254. 
4 Op. cit., p. 254. 



Spirit Identity 245 

The difficulty in reconciling the Myers p with the 
Myers v would disappear if we assume that the Myers v J 
which has a clear grasp of the correspondence, is noth- 
ing else than a "secondary personality" in the subcon- 
scious mind of Mrs. Verrall and that it is this subcon- 
scious mind, impersonating Myers, which telepathically 
directs the correspondence. 

Mrs. Verrall's subconscious mind seems to have been 
the originator of the idea of cross-correspondence which 
appeared in her script in March, 1901, 1 and then was 
taken up by other sensitives. Real success came only in 
1907. But if we consider the non-moral character of the 
subconscious mind in its assuming secondary personali- 
ties there is no reason why that of Mrs. Verrall, having 
once conceived the idea of cross-correspondence, should 
not endeavor to carry it out for the purpose of prov- 
ing spirit identity. 

The difficulty presented by cross-correspondences is 
that they refer to propositions verifiable in the past or 
present, and therefore capable of being in the mind of 
a living person at the time at which the correspondence 
occurs. Telepathy between the living can always be 
adduced in order to explain away the alleged spirit con- 
trol in such cases, which of course renders positive evi- 
dence for spirit-agency in this form of automatism un- 
obtainable. But individual cases of cross-corre- 
spondence not only leave open the possibility of telep- 
athy as explanatory of the directing element, but in 
addition to this often show that the telepathic explana- 
tion would be preferable, in view of the facts in the case, 
or, even, in some cases quite evident. 2 

Our review of the cases of "spirit-control" which 
would be apt and expected to present the best evidence 



1 See Miss Alice Johnson in Proceedings, S. P. R., xxi:373 et seq. 

2 See Mr. Podmore's treatment of the "Sevens Incident" in Op. cit., pp. 
268-274. 



246 Spirit Identity 

for spirit-identity, and of cross-correspondence as giv- 
ing indication of a directing influence of discarnate 
spirits in automatic communications, has by necessity 
been exceedingly brief. But we are not basing our 
conclusions upon an independent investigation of the 
many cases which present themselves, rather, we have 
referred to the more striking incidents which have ap- 
peared in the long series of investigations on the sub- 
ject undertaken by men and women with long practical 
experience in Psychical Research, and, consequently, 
more capable of the task; and dealing with these cases 
as typical of the best evidence obtainable we have en- 
deavored to show not only its insufficiency for produc- 
ing positive proof to spirit identity, but also that it 
often seems to take on a negative character. Our at- 
titude has been to exclude the hypothesis of spirit in- 
tervention in the presence of a possibly adequate natural 
hypothesis. 

Sir William Barrett takes the very opposite attitude, 
accepting spirit intervention in the absence of positive 
proof of the presence of possible natural causes. 1 We 
do not think this attitude generally accepted in deal- 
ing with questions of the preternatural, rather we feel 
no need for defending our use of the principle according 
to which we accept a preternatural causation only where 
possible natural processes of causation would prove in- 
adequate. Acting upon this principle we come to the 

lt( 0n the Threshold of the Unseen" (pp. 209-210). 

"The only surmise that can be made is that Mr. Moses had seen some 
notice of the man's death and career in an American newspaper, and 
either had forgotten the fact or had purposely deceived his friends. But 
then, this could only have been one of many similar cases of forgetfulness 
or deception, and before we can assume this we have to prove that Mr. 
Moses did obtain the required information by means of newspapers or 
other mundane channels of information." 

It may be interesting to quote Mr. Podmore in this regard ("The 
Newer Spiritualism," p. 148) : "Stainton -Moses was a graduate of Ox- 
ford. ... He wrote 'inspirational' discoveries and books, and delivered 
messages purporting to come from the dead. Most of his clairvoyant reve- 
lations can be shown to be reproductions of recent obituary notices in the 
newspapers and other published material" (Italics ours.) 



Spirit Identity 247 

conclusion that there is at present no positive warrant 
for accepting spirit-intervention in automatic communi- 
cations. 

We have referred to the activity of "secondary per- 
sonalities" and of the "subliminal self," and also to tele- 
pathic communications. As we have pointed out, these 
things do not explain Spiritism. But it is incontestable 
that these notions cover a number of facts — by no 
means fully known or fully explored — yet facts of 
nature, to a large extent capable of experimental re- 
production. So far as we know those facts, they seem 
adequate to cover the problems offered by the psychical 
phenomena of Spiritism. No doubt we are moving to- 
wards a fuller knowledge and understanding of these 
facts which may in its turn alter their apparent relation 
to the spiritistic phenomena. In the meantime we can 
form no other judgment regarding the psychical phe- 
nomena of Spiritism than that they have not been 
proven to be preternatural. 



CHAPTER VIII. 

Spikitism as a Religion. 

In our chapter on the historical development of the 
Spiritistic movement we have made mention of its re- 
ligious character, and, apart from certain phases of 
scientific investigation, Spiritism, both in its popular 
form and among its more highly educated adherents, is 
viewed essentially as a Religion. Indeed, Spiritists re- 
gard it as a new Revelation, hostile, it is true, to pres- 
ent-day Christianity, but not to what they claim to be 
the teaching of Christ. 1 They distinguish between the 
Gospel of Christ Himself and its interpretation by sub- 
sequent Christianity, in which latter category they in- 
clude the doctrines proposed by the Apostles. 2 Christ 
Himself, they say, was a medium, perhaps the greatest 
of all, and the truth which was revealed through Him is 
now forcefully presented and amplified in a form 
adapted to the age and attested by verifiable miracles. 3 

1 "The religion of the future is in our midst already, working like 
potent yeast in the minds of the people. It is in our midst to-day, with 
signs and wonders, uprising like a swollen tide. ... To its prede- 
cessors (Spiritism) assumes an attitude not of hostility, but of com- 
prehension. Though new in its form, it purports to have been ever in 
the world. Christianity it represents, not as a finality, but as one — the 
greatest, indeed, as yet — of those many waves of spiritual influx which 
have ever been beating upon the shores of time from the dim expanse of 
the Eternal. Christianity has spent its force, and now another revelation 
has succeeded it — a revelation suited to the needs of the time." — St. 
George Stock, "Attempts at Truth," pp. 128, 133. 

2 "If, however, we find that the doctrines of Paul, or Peter, or John 
conflict with the recorded teaching of the Master, let us cling to the latter, 
even though in doing so we have to discard many a venerable belief." 
(Farmer, "A New Basis of Belief," p. 34.) 

See also the Introduction to E. Katharine Bates, "Psychical Science 
and Christianity." 

3 "Who will say that in the light of the present needs of the great 
human world, that (sic!) Spiritualism has no claim to the attention of 
the Christian Church as a renewal of Christ's teachings, and a reappear- 
ance of the signs and wonders which He promised should distinguish the 
true believer?" (Farmer, Op. cit., p. 36.) 

". . . Spiritualism has come, claiming to add new lustre to 
Christ's teaching — to enlarge its capacities and extend its influence. 



Spiritism as a Religion 249 

As a fact, so they believe, in Spiritism is again fulfilled 
Christ's promise of a renewed Revelation of which He 
speaks to the Apostles. 1 Sir Arthur Conan Doyle sees 
in it "a new revelation from divine sources which con- 
stitutes by far the greatest religious event since the 
death of Christ — a revelation which alters the whole as- 
pect of life and death," 2 and he with others hails Sir 
Oliver Lodge's "Raymond" as an epoch-making work 
containing "a new revelation of God's dealing with 
man." 3 In its phenomena Spiritism claims to present 
a new basis for belief, which is able to establish the 
supernatural even before the scrutiny of science, 4 and 

Spiritualism is not more startling to the religious world to-day than was 
the gospel of Jesus to the orthodox Jews. They were scandalized then 
by the new light which was thrown upon their ritual and ceremonial ob- 
servances, and in fear they exclaimed — Who dares to question our most 
holy and ancient faith? Who disputes the sufficiency of the law and the 
prophets? The parallel is complete." (Ibid., p. 41.) 

1 Op. cit., p. 42 ; The author here refers to Christ's promise : "Adhuc 
multa habeo vobis dicere; sed non potestis portare modo. Cum autem 
venerit ille Spiritus veritatis, docebit vos omnem veritatem." (Joan. 
xvi:12-13.) 

2 Robert Mountsier, "Spiritism in England" in the Bookman Jan., 1918, 
p. 517: "'The situation may be summed up in a simple alternative,' said 
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle in going over the subject with me. 'The one 
supposition is that there has been an outbreak of lunacy extending over 
two generations of mankind on two continents — a lunacy that assails men 
and women of character and intellect who are otherwise eminently sane. 
The alternative supposition is that the world is now confronted with a 
new revelation from divine sources which constitutes by far the greatest 
religious event since the death of Christ — a revelation which alters the 
whole aspect of life and death. Between these two suppositions I can 
see no solid position. Spiritualism is absolute lunacy or it is a revolution 
in religious thought, giving us as by-products an utter fearlessness of 
death and an immense consolation when those who are dear to us pass 
behind the veil.' " 

3 Ibid., loc. cit., "Conan Doyle acclaims the book ( Sir Oliver Lodge's 
'Raymond') as one of such value that its true place in the development 
of human convictions can hardly be measured by contemporaries: 'It is 
a new revelation of God's dealing with man, and it will strengthen, not 
weaken, the central spirit of Christianity.' " 

4 "The new bases of belief supplied by Spiritualism are rational, and 
they are also scientific. We get our facts, verify them, and then reason 
therefrom to a consistent theory. . . . The Christian Church had 
certain theories to uphold, and her facts were made to coincide with them. 
Spiritualism reverses this method; by so doing joining hands with 
Science; and while putting many of the doctrines of the Christian Church 
on a lower basis; at the same time places them on an impregnable and 
surer foundation." — (Farmer, Op. cit., p. 51.) 



250 Spiritism as a Religion 

to make a more direct appeal, not only to the intellect 
but to the heart of man, by means of direct communica- 
tion with departed beloved in this life. 

From such general claims it would be interesting to 
pass on to a review of leading doctrines, but here we 
enter upon difficulties, for the spiritistic creeds show 
too many variations to make a true synthesis possible. 
As a fact, Spiritists disclaim creeds in the sense in which 
the word is understood by conservative Christianity. 
They consider it a mistake to identify a creed with the 
Gospel. "In all things essential," one author says, 1 
"Spiritualism and Primitive Christianity are one. 
Around their central facts are clustered a golden galaxy 
of truths. Taking the authentic utterances of Jesus, 
His teaching may be summed up in Reverence, Sym- 
pathy, Purity and Love Spiritualism clears 

away the glosses and deductions of ritual and specula- 
tion which have gathered around His life and work, and 
more clearly reveals the divine truths underlying the 
same." 

Both W. Stainton-Moses 2 and R. D. Owen 3 find in 
their spiritistic doctrines what they consider the es- 
sential teachings of Christ. The following ideas, re- 
ceived from communicating spirits, are set forth by 
Mr. Moses in his "Spirit Teachings/' 

God is not spoken of by the spirits as a personality, 
for no spirit has ever seen Him. Being incomprehensi- 
ble to man He is knowable only in His works. Es- 
sentially he is Love and He manifests Wisdom, Truth 
and Justice. He is the almighty, eternal, immutable 
Life principle and Author of all might and wisdom, 
pervading all space and living in all men. He has no 
equal and He is the Father of all created beings. 

Man is individual and immortal, a spark of Deity. 
His life both here and beyond is progressive and his 

1 Farmer, Op. cit. pp. 56-57. 

2 "Spirit Teachings." 

3 "The Debatable Land." 



Spiritism as a Religion 251 

duties are progress, culture, purity, charity and loving 
kindness, and his happiness or its reverse depends upon 
his fulfillment or neglect of these duties. 

Heaven and Hell are not places, but rather mental 
states which may be found in this life as well as in the 
next. According to Owen we do not earn Heaven by 
faith or works, nor are we sentenced to Hell, but we 
simply gravitate to the state for which we have fitted 
ourselves in this life. Suffering in the future life is a 
consequence of evil-doing in this, and is proportionate 
thereto. But there is a progressive emergence from the 
misery of Hell and the spirit is able to work out its 
own salvation. 

Death is a passing of the spirit from the earthly body 
to the invisible world, without essential change. Ac- 
cording to Owen, the death change is followed by an 
earth-phase of life which is a supplement of that which 
precedes it. It resembles earth-life but is more ele- 
vated. Finally the soul reaches a higher state in which 
it becomes God's messenger to men, but even in this 
state there is constant, endless progress. 

Religion does not consist in dogmatic belief, but 
rather in feeling and in righteous dealing with our fel- 
low man. It is this which determines our happiness in 
the next world. Jesus is the supreme example, but He 
is mere man — although perfect. He was a perfect 
medium through whom God performed wonderful 
works as He performs them through other mediums to- 
day. 

Such were the main points in popular spiritistic be- 
lief in the days of Mr. Moses. To these beliefs Allan 
Kardec added that of reincarnation. In the course of 
time the doctrines have undergone considerable change 
and modification, following closely the development of 
ultra modern philosophical thought. From a personal 
God and Creator of the Universe Spiritists have come 
to a conception more in harmony with pantheism and 
evolution. We find this expressed, for instance, in the 



252 Spiritism as a Religion 

writings of Myers, which are representative of 
spiritistic religious thought in its most intellectual de- 
velopment. 1 

Spirit communication as proving immortality, ac- 
cording to Myers' view, has opened the realm of 
"Divine things" to observation and experiment, thus 
abolishing authority and faith as a basis for religious 
belief. In this, of course, he deviates from the popular 
attitude of Spiritism, accepting the authority of 
spirit-revelation as fundamental to faith. To Myers 
"the impulse of faith will resolve itself into a reasoned 
and resolute imagination, bent upon raising even higher 
than now the highest ideals of man." 2 The truest faith 
for times to come he thinks will lie in finding traces of 
the "supernal world" through patient study of spirit- 
istic phenomena. 3 Spiritism is a new link in the chain 
of spiritual evolution following upon the "first high 
authentic message from a world beyond our own" which 
Europe felt in the age of Christ. 4 Telepathy, not only 
between living minds but between the living and the 
dead, becomes a kind of cosmic Love, binding and unit- 
ing kindred spirits in the universe; "like atoms, like 
suns, like galaxies, our spirits are systems of forces 
which vibrate continually to each other's attractive 
power." 5 And in this is found a religious education of 
the world, which always has been operative between 
this world and the next, and which does away with any 
need for supernatural interference or any plan of re- 
demption. 

1 See his Epilogue in "Human Persotmlity," vol. II, pp. 275 et seq. 

2 Op. cit., vol. II, p. 279. 

3 "It may be that for some generations to come the truest faith will lie 
in the patient attempt to unravel from confused phenomena some traces 
of the supernal world; to find thus at last 'the substance of things hoped 
for, the evidence of things not seen.' I confess, indeed, that I have often 
felt as though this present age were even unduly favored; as though no 
future revelation and calm could equal the joy of this great struggle from 
doubt into certainty — from the materialism and agnosticism which ac- 
company the first advance of Science into the deeper scientific conviction 
that there is a deathless soul in man." (Op. cit., vol. II, p. 280.) 

4 Ibid., p. 281. 

5 Ibid., p. 282. 



Spiritism as a Religion 253 

Religion itself Myers conceives as "the sane and 
normal response of the human spirit to all that we know 
of cosmic law; that is, to the known phenomena of the 
universe, regarded as an intelligible whole." 1 And of 
this universe he has the traditional pantheistic concep- 
tion. The supreme business, then, of man is to be 
found in an out-reaching towards the World- Soul 
whose "infinite energy of omniscient benevolence should 
become in us an enthusiasm of adoring cooperation — 
an eager obedience to whatsoever with our best pains 
we can discern as the justly ruling principle without 
us and within." 2 But side by side with such evolution 
of the inner religious consciousness Myers admits reve- 
lation, i. e., the unveiling of truths hidden to us by more 
advanced spirits communicating with us by means of 
telepathy. This, then, is our destiny — a process of de- 
velopment under the influence of the all-pervading 
cosmic Love, of gravitation towards the center of the 
pantheistic World- Soul. In this process alone is to be 
found individual salvation. 

Of course, to the popular mind, Mr. Myers' theory of 
Spiritism as a Religion must be a closed book. Yet, 
it shows the philosopher's conception of its acceptance, 
and while on the one hand it will serve certain minds, 
on the other it will find, faint though it be, a reechoing 
in more popular theories. As a fact, it can be traced 
in the latest development of spiritistic belief as found 
in Sir Oliver Lodge's "Raymond" and set forth by one 
of its most modern prophets, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, 3 
who with Sir Oliver Lodge ranks as one of the most 
able exponents of Spiritism in England in its war de- 
velopment. 

1 Op. cit., vol. II, p. 284. 

2 Ibid., p. 285. 

3 Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, "The New Revelation," in the Metropolitan, 
January, 1918. 



254 Spiritism as a Religion 

The messages received from the beyond, according 
to Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, give a new Revelation, al- 
though not of an absolutely infallible kind, for even 
among spirits there is a diversity of opinion. Yet, there 
is a sufficient consensus among the more essential points 
of teaching which may be summarized as follows: 

The souls of the departed are not alone, for with them 
there are higher spirits of various degrees of perfection. 
God, being infinite, is not within their ken, but the 
Christ Spirit, who is nearer God, represents Him and 
lives with the other spirits. His special care is earth, 
and He came to that planet at a time of great wicked- 
ness and corruption to teach men and by His example 
to lead them to a realization of a more ideal life. But 
there is no reference to an Atonement or a Redemptive 
work. He may be expected again to appear on earth, 
should need there be. 

Death is both easy and painless — a passing from the 
mortal body, followed by a reaction of peace and ease. 
"The individual finds himself in a spirit body, which is 
the exact counterpart of his old one, save that all 
disease, weakness or deformity has passed from it." 1 
Having overcome the first amazement at the change, the 
departed, still standing or floating near his old body, 
perceives not only the bystanders, but also the dear ones 
who have gone before him, and now hasten to welcome 
him to the new world. There is also a higher spirit, a 
radiant sort of Guardian Angel, waiting there for him. 

Before entering upon his new life the newcomer now 
has a period of sleep varying from a very few days to 
weeks and months, 2 from which he wakes up in a state 
of weakness but soon gathers new strength. In the new 
life love and common interest unite individuals, and it 
is full of interest and occupation. It is like life on earth 

1 Op. cit., p. 75. 

a In Raymond's case it lasted six days; in Myers' a very prolonged 
period. In the case of children the sleep is of very short duration. 



Spiritism as a Religion 255 

purged of its material pursuits and concentrated in 
mental and intellectual activities and enjoyments — 
there is both music and art. The new form of the spirits 
is like their old one, but there is a gradual perfection in 
that children grow up and the old undergo a process of 
rejuvenation till a normal standard has been reached 
by all. Spirits are clothed and live in communities and 
the male spirit finds his true mate 1 

It should be noted that the existence is not permanent, 
for the messages received on earth come from those 
recently deceased, who gradually seem to lose interest in 
affairs of this world and entirely cease to manifest 
themselves as soon as all their beloved have rejoined 
them, and at a later stage they seem to pass to other 
regions so far unknown. 2 

There is no Hell with everlasting torments; rather 
the spirits indicate a kind of Purgatory, a sort of 
hospital for weak souls in which they gradually emerge 
from their infirmities under the educational influence 
of spirits of higher regions. The "greatest joy in 
heaven lies in emptying hell." 

Such, then, are the leading doctrinal ideas in modern, 
popular Spiritism. We have already pointed out how 
Spiritists reject Christianity and they delight in pre- 
senting Christian creeds as misrepresentations of the 
Gospel of Christ — as the ideas and interpretations of 
the Gospel of an uncritical age grown stale in a set of 
dogmas demanding acceptance by unreasoned faith. 
As such Christianity is beyond redemption, for it "can 
not change without breaking the crusts of its petrified 
beliefs and emerging as something entirely new." 3 Sir 
Arthur Conan Doyle attacks the fundamental Christian 
idea of Redemption, for to him evolution has proven a 
gradual transition from ape to man, from savagery to 

1 In this Sir Arthur has adopted Swedenborg's view. 
'John King revealed himself as a band of pre-Adamite men, and W. 
Stainton-Moses conversed with Spirits of men from great antiquity. 
3 Tuttle, "The Arcana of Spiritualism," p. 276. 



256 Spiritism as a Religion 

culture, and where there was no fall there can be no 
need for a Redemption. The very idea of the Atone- 
ment he finds repulsive and he refuses to see the justice 
in a vicarious sacrifice. Christ died, like so many an 
enthusiast, a martyr for His idea, but His importance 
for humanity is to be found in His life rather than in 
His death. 1 But with all this, Sir Arthur tells us, he 
will not contradict Christianity, for there is nothing the 
matter with it — it only needs modification based upon 
a verification of its doctrines by means of spiritistic phe- 
nomena. Thus, Christianity must either accommodate 
itself to spiritistic belief and practice — or it must 
perish. 2 



Spiritism in the whole of its development is marked 
by a gradual departure from what is essential in 
Christianity, and in this it keeps even pace with what 
is called "modern thought" in the realm of vague re- 
ligious philosophy. The Christian idea of a personal 
God and Father, whose individual dealings with us 
and ours with Him constitute the essential elements of 
Religion, have been supplanted by those of an imperson- 
al World- Soul or of a distant inscrutable God or Life 
principle Who does not deal with us directly and Whom 
we can reach only in so far as He is reflected in our- 
selves. Instead of leading the soul to man's ultimate 
end, the blissful contemplation of God, it slips it into 
a new world of human ideals with its struggles, im- 
perfections and disappointments. And as the Divinity 
of Christ and His redemptory work are denied, so is in- 
dividual salvation by faith in His teaching and by its 
practice. Faith itself has been removed from its Chris- 
tian basis of Divine authority and placed upon the 
laboratory table of an obscure science. In short, the 

1 Metropolitan, Jan. 1918, p. 75. 

2 Ibid., p. 69. 



Spiritism as a Religion 257 

whole supernatural structure of Christianity is de- 
molished by Spiritism, which is shaping itself into 
natural Religion with a popular admixture of necro- 
mantic superstition. 



The foundation upon which spiritistic belief rests is 
to be found in the phenomena in general as giving proof 
of the existence of a spiritual, or, as the Spiritists are 
wont to term it, supernatural, order. And particularly 
the psychical phenomena are held to furnish evidence 
of spirit-identity and thus to show that the soul of man 
is immortal. This general and particular belief the 
Spiritist claims to have established upon a thoroughly 
scientific ground as being the only one on which Re- 
ligious belief can be accepted. We think that the preced- 
ing chapters will have shown with sufficient clearness the 
exact state of solidity of this basis, for whereas it has 
been impossible to establish by positive proof that all 
the phenomena are natural, i. e., that their causes are 
to be found in Nature of which we form part, yet we 
lack positive scientific evidence for a single phenomenon 
being of a preternatural character. So long as this is 
the case the very corner-stone is removed from under 
the spiritistic structure. 

But if we abandon the high claims of Spiritists to es- 
tablish Spiritualism (in the true sense of the word 1 ) 
and Immortality on the basis of scientific observation 
and experiment, and if we admit as a possibility that 
some phenomena might be caused by spirits, still this 
fails to leave a warrant for belief in Immortality or for 
our acceptance of the "spirit messages" as forming a 
true Revelation. For granting the existence of a spirit 
world, must we not also grant that it may be and in all 
probability is inhabited by other spirits than human 
souls? And what assurance do we have that the spirits 

1 See Introduction, p. 9, note 1. 



258 Spiritism as a Religion 

which possibly would communicate have the knowledge, 
or power, or will, to reveal to us the truths necessary for 
our salvation? 

To go still further in concessions, even though we 
should accept, not as a scientific conclusion, but rather 
as our opinion, that certain spirit-messages would show 
the identity of the communicator with some persons de- 
parted, the most we could logically infer would be that 
a certain human being so far had survived bodily death. 
But from this inference, which can not at present be 
based upon scientific evidence, the step is long to proof 
for permanent persistence or Immortality inherent in 
all human beings. 1 

Spiritistic claims, no matter how we regard our re- 
lations to the Deity, will be found quite incompatible 
with the idea of a Revelation. On the pantheistic plan, 
the realization of the Divinity in the individual must 
needs come through a gradual evolution of his own con- 
sciousness, which alone can bring him nearer the center 
of the World- Soul, and in such a system the idea of an 
external Revelation becomes rank nonsense. Highly 
philosophical Spiritism and Liberal Christianity, even 
where the existence of a personal God is accepted, are 
not very far removed from pantheistic conceptions. 
From their point of view Revelation becomes a purely 
internal matter between God and the individual soul, 
and Religion means a manifestation of the Infinite in 
and through the finite — a "knowledge of God, not of 



1 Sir William Barrett makes this point very clear ( "On the Threshold 
of the Unseen," p. 287) : "Here let me remark that the inference com- 
monly drawn that spirit communications teach us the necessary and in- 
herent immortality of the soul is, in my opinion, a mischievous error. It 
is true they show us that life can exist in the unseen, and — if we accept 
the evidence for 'identity' — that some we have known on earth are still 
living and near us, but entrance on a life after death does not neces- 
sarily mean immortality, i. e., eternal persistence of our personality; nor 
does it prove that survival after death extends to all. Obviously no ex- 
perimental evidence can ever demonstrate either of these beliefs, though 
it may and does remove the objections raised as to the possibility of 
survival." 



Spiritism as a Religion 259 

the methods of His working, but the consciousness of 
His presence "* The knowledge of the super- 
natural, then, must come from within, must be evolved 
in the consciousness of man, and, consequently, here as 
in the purely pantheistic system the idea of an external 
Revelation finds no place in Religion. 2 

Seen from the point of view of more conservative 
Christianity the question takes a very different aspect. 
We shall prefer to discuss it not on the basis of one or 
other creed within this fiekl, but rather upon principles 
which we think must be amiepted by all those who con- 
sistently look to an external Revelation for obtaining 
Religious knowledge. 

Accepting the existence of a personal God and the 
spirituality of the human soul, it will be impossible to 
escape the conclusion that each individual soul owes its 
being to the creative act of God. For the other alterna- 
tive, that the soul should have its origin in the genera- 
tive process, involves us in the most insuperable diffi- 
culties. On the one hand we evidently can not admit 
that physical generation could in itself be productive 
of a spiritual being 3 — and we speak here of a being in 
the sense in which the scholastics employ the word sub- 
stance, i. e., an entity capable of independent existence. 
It would be to admit the transcended as sufficient cause 
for the transcending. On the other hand, a spiritual 
generation is impossible, since the soul, like all spiritual 
substances, is simple, and therefore has no parts which 
it could emit. There is nothing left, then, but to ascribe 
the origin of the individual soul to a creative power, 
i. e., to production out of nothing, which postulates an 

1 Sir William Barrett, "On the Threshold of the Unseen," p. 285. 

* Ibid. ". . . Spiritualism can not even afford to us knowledge of 
the supernatural as it is often claimed to do." "From (the point of view 
of these systems) it is obvious Spiritualism is not and can not be a 
religion, which rests essentially upon those higher instincts of the soul we 
call faith. For, as Canon Scott Holland says in the 'Lux Mundi' (p. 15) — 
'Faith is the power by which conscious life attaches itself to God.' " 

•Div. Thorn. Aquin., Summa Theol. I, Q. cviii, a. 2. 



260 Spiritism as a Religion 

act of a Creator, since simple becoming would be an 
absurdity — ex nihilo nihil fit. 

This in its turn postulates a purpose in man's 
creation. And if we admit immortality, which after all 
is the central belief in Spiritism and logically follows 
upon an acceptance of the spirituality of the soul, we 
must also admit that the purpose for which man was 
created is to be found in a higher, spiritual life, beyond 
the more imperfect earthly form from which the soul 
frees itself in death. Now, who will say that it is in 
keeping with such a purpos^that the soul, freed from 
the more imperfect material associations to which it 
was bound by its union with the body, and elevated to 
a purely spiritual life — and, according to conservative 
Christianity, to a life face to face with its Creator — 
should busy itself with moving furniture, producing 
scents and little lights, making sundry noises, pulling 
people's hair, playing pranks on clergymen and kissing 
French and Italian investigators of the occult, all at 
the nocturnal seances of some more or less suspicious 
character who will vie with it in imitating the tricks? 
A preacher proposing such a Heaven would at the 
most find an audience among the naughty children of 
his town. Or, on the whole, would it be in keeping 
with such purpose that the soul should exhaust itself 
giving to mankind in the flesh evidence, for the most 
part doubtful, of its continued existence? 

And would we expect an infinitely wise Creator even 
to tempt the liberated soul to such retroaction by fail- 
ing to provide for mankind the Revelation it might need 
in order to attain the end for which it was created? 
Certainly, were a Revelation needed, God would not 
leave its manifestation to chance. 



Granting the necessity of a Revelation, are we to 
believe that God has chosen and commissioned certain 



Spiritism as a Religion 261 

souls to carry it out, or, in general, that He has selected 
communication between the departed and the living as 
a means of giving a Revelation? In other words, are 
the spiritistic phenomena the means established by God 
by which we are to receive the knowledge of the super- 
natural necessary for our salvation? If they are not, 
how can Spiritism lay claim to our religious belief? 
And if they are, it necessarily must provide unmistak- 
able signs as a warrant for our acceptance of it. 

We have now come to a point where the spiritistic 
Revelation is tentatively placed on the basis upon which 
conservative Christianity places the Revelation of 
Christ. For to be worthy of our religious attention it 
must needs be a Divine Revelation carried out by 
agencies with Divine Commission. 

Spiritists, we have shown, are not slow to make such 
claim. And besides alleged proofs for spirit-identity, 
of which we have already treated, they base it partly 
upon the physical phenomena as being on a par with 
the miracles of Christ, partly on the alleged spirit 
teachings as being particularly conformable with the 
highest ideals and adapted to human needs — as a fact, 
in essence identical with the teachings of Christ. It is 
an odious comparison. 

If we consider the physical phenomena, particularly 
those we have described in the second chapter, trivial 
tricks of no intrinsic benefit to anybody, performed in 
a dark room preferably at night and for a monetary 
consideration at the bidding usually of a hysterical 
woman, who has to be controlled lest she should resort 
to fraud, and if we compare them with the miracles of 
Christ as described in the Scriptures, great works of 
mercy to suffering individuals, such as giving sight to 
the blind, strength to the lame, health to the incurably 
diseased, or such works as calling Lazarus from death 
and multiplying the five loaves and fishes to feed the 
hungry multitudes, all immediately useful and of a 



262 Spiritism as a Religion 

nature defying imitation, all done in the open, in broad 
daylight, and before men, all done for no temporal con- 
sideration of gain or of satisfying the curious, but rather 
that men should believe that His teaching was of God — 
with such facts before us, how can we fail to see the 
abysmal difference which separates the two orders? Is 
it conceivable that God in confirmation of a Revelation 
would cause or even permit to be performed the most 
ridiculous disturbance in obscure seance-rooms and by 
a set of individuals who time and again have been caught 
in flagrant fraud? Somewhere Gilbert Chesterton says 
that we would not expect to hear the voice of God is- 
suing from the coal cellar. Nor would we expect to 
see His finger in the seance-room. 

And turning to the "spirit-messages," do we find in 
their contents any indication of a supernatural in- 
fluence? Of the great mass of recorded communica- 
tions only a very small part has a direct bearing upon 
Religious subjects. Although not always to his liking, 
the doctrines appearing in Mr. Moses' script are by no 
means above his own knowledge and intelligence. Home 
would deliver sermons of a very emotional kind, but so 
far as doctrine is concerned inferior to those of the Ox- 
ford clergyman. 1 The matter which is found recorded 
in the Proceedings and the Journals of the Societies for 

1 "He published in the Spiritual Magazine an account of a beautiful 
vision of heaven and purple-tinted clouds which had been vouchsafed to 
him. . . . Home's 'control' frequently gave through his mouth 
spiritual counsel and exhortations to his young friends. The names of 
God, the angels, heaven were continually on his lips when sitting in the 
darkened seance-room." 

The following extract from a letter of Home to the Hartford Times 
describes the effect produced by one of his seances on a certain gentle- 
man : 

"When at length the light did beam upon his soul, and the chords of 
his spirit vibrated in unison with the celestial harmonies that ushered 
in the birth through the shadows of his old unbelief, the result was too 
much for his stoicism, and the tears of holy joy coursed down his manly 
cheeks. It was an impressive scene, and an occasion of deep interest. 
There are many such in the life of a spirit medium." (Podmore, "The 
Newer Spiritualism" p. 43.) 



Spiritism as a Religion 263 

Psychical Research as well as in the Annales des 
Sciences Psychiques, etc., is chiefly concerned with 
trivial events of the past, or makes elaborate reference 
to literature, or simply builds puzzles in alleged proof 
of spirit identity. Occasionally reference is made to 
the new life in the world beyond, but no important state- 
ment regarding God, future life, or human conduct is 
to be found except in the automatic productions of 
certain mediums, outside of which it is only by strug- 
gling through an enormous mass of the most confused 
and often unintelligible communications that one is able 
to gather fragments and glimpses of ideas which at all 
have a religious bearing. 

A Divine Revelation must by its very nature present 
objective truth. And since it is only in so far as we are 
unable, at least with reasonable facility, to know 
naturally the truths necessary or expedient for us in 
order to realize the purpose for which we are that a 
Revelation becomes necessary or expedient, it follows 
that, if given, it must be given in a form and under cir- 
cumstances which would render it unmistakable. 

In this respect the Spiritistic Revelation is wanting, 
for as we have already pointed out, it is full of contra- 
dictions. It presents to us a God, Who is at the same 
time personal and impersonal, omnipotent and subject 
to the laws of nature, or Who is a World-Soul; it also 
tells us thar there is no God, or that He is unknowable. 
There is a heaven and a hell, and again, there is no hell. 
Future existence is a mental state, or it is a life on one 
or many spirit spheres, in a tangible world with animals 
and so forth. In France the doctrine of Reincarnation 
is taught, in England, America and Germany this 
doctrine is usually denied. Besides teaching contra- 
dictory doctrines the soi-disant spirits tell barefaced lies. 
Phinuit insists upon having been a French doctor, and 
yet he knows no French, nor does he know the more 
prominent French physicians who would have been his 



264 Spiritism as a Religion 

contemporaries. 1 The Imperator band revealed their 
real names to Mr. Moses, who told them under secrecy 
to Frederic Myers; later when controlling Mrs. Piper 
they gave quite different names as being their real ones. 2 
The spirits also contradict each other. Thus "G. P." 
through Mrs. Piper denies many of the doctrines re- 
ceived through Mr. Moses — flatly states that they are 
untrue — and this is confirmed by the Moses control of 
that medium. 3 There is not one single statement in the 
spirit communications referring to Religious doctrine 
that has not in this way been amply contradicted. 4 

The set of doctrines more usually presented in the 
name of Spiritism by no means corresponds to the re- 
ligious needs of man. The question of a future life 
must be central in any religious system, and the hope 
of Immortality, of a future life, brighter and happier 
than that in the "vale of sorrows," undoubtedly has at- 
tracted a great many adherents to the movement. But 
this belief is not the exclusive property of Spiritism; 

1 Proceedings, S. P. R., viii : 50, and Raupert, "Modem Spiritism," pp. 
137-138. 

2 Raupert, Op. cit., p. 140. 

3 Proceedings, S. P. R. 

4 Dr. William Potter in "Spiritism as it is" ( quoted from Raupert 
"Modern Spiritism," p. 199) says: "The teachings and theories given 
through the different manifestations are as various as it is possible to 
conceive. Indeed, few of the most devoted 'seekers after truth under 
difficulties' are aware of the endless contradictions and absurdities that 
were mixed up with the most exalted truths and the Aiost profound 
philosophies." He then presents some of the more striking contradictions. 
Mr. Raupert makes the following comment (Op. cit., p. 202) : "The 
writer's own experience and research thoroughly confirm the accuracy of 
this very unique and typical summary, and although he fully admits that 
we do occasionally meet with intelligences which will give remarkably 
sensible and rational accounts of the other world and its life, and which 
will display a considerable amount of consistency and reasonableness in 
their statements and assertions, such statements can, nevertheless, in each 
single instance be shown to be contradicted by some assertion on the same 
subject, made by a different intelligence and through the agency of a 
different sensitive." 

Judge Edmunds writes in "Letters on Spiritism," p. 96: "The spirits, 
though they continued to manifest whenever invited, and breathed nothing 
but kindness, good-will, and affection, yet spoke so many falsehoods that 
he was disgusted with the exhibition." 



Spiritism as a Religion 265 

rather, it springs from the very consciousness of man 
and finds its echo in every Religion, and we even find it 
in the fantasies of the evolutionist poet : 1 

"God wrought our souls from the Tremadoc beds 

And furnished them wings to fly; 
He sowed our spawn in the world's dim dawn, 

And I know that it shall not die ; 
Though cities have sprung above the graves 

Where the crook-boned men made war, 
And the ox-wain creaks o'er the buried caves, 

Where the mummied mammoths are." 

Spiritism holds out something more than mere prom- 
ise and belief, for it claims to give certainty of Immor- 
tality based on rock-bottom scientific evidence, and we 
have seen how a scrutiny of this evidence and some 
logical thinking scatters it to the winds. If such cer- 
tainty is what we seek in Spiritism we shall meet with 
disappointment. 

Again, on its practical side Religion should give 
guidance to moral conduct. It is essentially the func- 
tion of Religion to teach man how to live in order to 
reached his ultimate destination, and there is no need for 
pointing out the prominence of positive moral teach- 
ing both in the Old and in the New Testament and in 
conservative Christianity in all ages. Nor is such teach- 
ing lacking in other religious systems, such as for in- 
stance the Jewish Religion and Mohammedanism. 
Spiritism on the other hand shows an almost complete 
absence of tangible moral doctrine, and in this respect 
it reveals its utter insufficiency and weakness as a 
practical Religion. 

The very notion of Religion implies a relation be- 
tween man and God which can not be understood or 
appreciated without a certain knowledge of God. And 
on this point the Spiritistic Religion breaks down 

1 Langdon Smith, "Evolution," No. xiii. 



266 Spiritism as a Religion 

miserably, for while in many quarters the existence of 
God is accepted, yet the possibility of knowing Him is 
denied, which fact to all practical purposes leaves Him 
outside the system, and Spiritism becomes a Religion 
without a God. 

It is not difficult to see that the consequences of such 
a position must be far-reaching. The denial of the Di- 
vinity of Christ and of His redemptive work follows of 
necessity, and both His example and doctrine become 
arbitrary. This in its turn leaves man as his own re- 
deemer, and renders him in the highest degree self-suffi- 
cient, giving supreme authority to reason and self-will. 
And here the level of pure paganism is reached accord- 
ing to which there is no authority above man, 1 who 
should not trust in God, nor weary Him with his 
prayers, but reach virtue and happiness by his own 
powers. 2 To the inquiring intellect the Religion of 
Spiritism has therefore nothing to offer beyond the ca- 
pacity of philosophy. 

Again, the aloofness of the Divinity removes from 
man every ideal beyond the abstraction and projection 
of Self. There can be no possibility of love of God un- 
less this projected Self be substituted for the Deity, in 
which case it is apt to redound to supreme egotism. And 
so far as love of neighbour is concerned there is no rea- 
son for it in the concrete other than expediency, and in 
the abstract it can extend to his ideals only in so far as 
they coincide with one's own. The Christian link of 
love based upon a common sonship must necessarily dis- 
appear with the fatherhood of God. 

All higher sanction of morality is removed, for the 
will of the unknowable Deity can not be known beyond 
its own expression in nature, whose dictates therefore 

1 "Sapiens cum diis ex pari vivit." Seneca, Ep. 59, 14. 

2 "Est aliquid quo sapiens antecedat Deum: ille beneficio naturae non 
timet, suo sapiens"; "hinc non Deo, sed sibi fidet, nee precibus Deum 
fatigat, sed per proprios vires virtutem et felicitatem attingit." Idem, 
Ep. 53, 13, and 31. 



Spiritism as a Religion 267 

become the supreme norm. There can be no punish- 
ment or reward beyond that of nature (and logically 
Hell has been abolished). In its ultimate analysis sin 
becomes analogous with inexpediency. 

There will be nothing to satisfy the cravings in man 
for something external higher: worship and prayer be- 
come terms without a meaning, and the only consolation 
for the soul seeking solace beyond the evasive shadows 
of earthly love will be found in imagined communion 
with those once dear in this life, who have passed into 
the beyond. In this all present comfort, all future hope 
become concentrated — the restoration of those earthly 
bonds of love and friendship, which have been broken 
by death — and the godless Religion begets its own gods. 

Thus the Religion of Spiritism having deprived man 
of all transcendent ideals and aspirations, leaves him en- 
tirely to himself, a slave to his own limitations and a 
victim of his own imperfections. And all this could be 
reached without a Revelation from the beyond. It is 
the very antithesis of Christianity, by which the Eternal 
Word has come into the world to be all things to all 
men, to be "the true light which enlighteneth every man 
that cometh into this world," so that divesting himself 
of himself man may be free to follow Him Who is "the 
Way, the Truth, and Life," and thus to find his rest 
and soothe his longings not in the fragmentary shadows 
of introspective contemplation of the Deity, but in see- 
ing God face to face. 



CHAPTER IX. 

Moral Aspects of Spiritism. 

In the beginning of the present work we stated our 
position regarding the relation of Theology to an in- 
vestigation of Spiritism. A study of the best authenti- 
cated phenomena on record has failed to show evidence 
for other than natural causes, and, consequently, we 
have arrived at the conclusion that Spiritism cannot 
be shown to contain a preternatural element. 

Many theological writers have viewed the question in 
another light and accepted the phenomena and medium- 
ship as at least in part preternatural. Among Catholic 
exponents of this view we find Father Perrone of the 
Society of Jesus * and Mr. Godfrey Raupert, 2 a former 
Spiritist. We shall not enter upon a discussion of their 
views, but refer for our contrary position to our chapters 
on Genuine and Spurious Phenomena, Spiritism and 
Psychology, and Spirit Identity. 

On the other hand, as we have set forth in these 
chapters, we do not think that positive proof can be 
given for the total absence of preternatural causation 
in the ensemble of the phenomena. For while it has 
been possible to explain them away by appealing to 
automatic activity of "secondary personalities/' sub- 
liminal memory and impressions, telepathy, and so 
forth, it may also be possible that in individual instances 
there has actually been present an influence from a 
spirit world. If we grant this possibility, it is more 
than likely that this element would be of a diabolical 
order. The assumption that God would allow departed 
human beings, whether in a probationary state or after 

x "De Virtute Religionis." 

2 "Modern Spiritism," "Dangers of Spiritualism." 



Moral Aspects of Spiritism 269 

they have attained their supernatural end, to cause the 
phenomena presented by Spiritism is, as we have said 
in the preceding chapter, preposterous. And, besides, 
whence does a discarnate soul receive the power neces- 
sary for their performance? 

Mr. Raupert finds positive proof for diabolical 
agency in Spiritism in the moral depravation which he 
has been able to notice in mediums, and in those in gen- 
eral who take part in spiritistic practices, 1 but in our 
survey we have been unable to find evidence for the sup- 
port of this claim. There is no denial of the fact that 
injudicious use of hypnotism and of suggestion in the 
trance will bring about disastrous results, as shown for 
instance in the case of Dr. Forel's subject, who under 
the influence of repeated induction of somnambulism 
by university students, spiritists, etc., had developed 
a "secondary personality" exhibiting the gravest moral 
depravity, which had become permanent with her. But 
there were no devils in the case, outside of the afore- 
said students and spiritists, as may be amply shown by 
the fact that proper hypnotic treatment under the skill- 
ful care of Dr. Forel gradually restored this un- 
fortunate woman to her former and better self. 2 

All Catholic Theologians, however, who treat of the 
subject, uphold the view that where a preternatural ele- 
ment is found in Spiritism it is to be referred to the 
agency of evil spirits rather than to that of souls of the 
departed, and their opinion was shared by many 
spiritists in the early stages of the movement, 3 and finds 
support among Protestant Clergymen. 4 

While theological opinion strongly leans towards 
diabolical agency in spiritistic phenomena and in 

1 "Dangers of Spiritualism" ; see also Lapponi, "Ipnotismo e Spiritismo" 
pp. 229 et seq. 

2 See p. 189, note. 

3 See T. L. Harris, "Modern Spiritualism," and "Arcana of Chris- 
tianity," and also Dialectical Report, pp. 218, 220, 223. 

*Podmore, "Modern Spiritualism," vol. II, p. 168, note 4. 



270 Moral Aspects of Spiritism 

mediumship, no definite conclusion will be reached on 
this point unless positive proof for preternatural 
causation should be forthcoming. In the meantime — 
as the question stands — we should take warning of the 
dangers which may be hidden in Spiritism. 



Quite apart from the question of actual intercourse 
with spirits, whether with those of the dead or with 
demons, Spiritism has its theological aspects. We have 
treated of Spiritism as a Religion, that is, broadly, the 
dogmatic aspect of its religious claims and teachings. 
It remains to discuss Spiritism from a moral point of 
view, that is to say from the point of view of our con- 
duct towards its teachings and practices. 

Needless to say, as Christians we cannot accept a 
Religion which is opposed to Christianity. But 
Spiritism is often found to embody beliefs which are 
in harmony with Christian teachings, such as, for 
instance, the belief in a purgative state of the soul after 
death, in which state the soul may communicate with 
the living. No doubt, such teachings smack of the 
doctrines of Purgatory and of the Communion of 
Saints. Would it be licit, then, to add to our present 
notions of these doctrines as presented by the teaching 
authority of the Church those supplied by Spiritism 
which do not contradict the former? The answer is 
very obvious since additional knowledge of such and 
similar kind could be obtained only by means of a new 
Revelation, which we have shown not to be furnished 
by means of mediumistic communications. It would 
unreservedly be an act of superstition to embody any of 
the teachings of Spiritism in our religious belief, no mat- 
ter how well they may seem to supplement Christian 
doctrine. We might as well draw from our own 
fancies. 



Moral Aspects of Spiritism 271 

The practices of Spiritism as such postulate at least 
attempted evocation of the souls of the departed for the 
purpose of gaining knowledge otherwise hidden or to 
produce extraordinary effects. From this point of view 
it is not an entirely new art, for similar practices, as 
mentioned in our Introduction, have been recorded since 
very remote ages under the name of Necromancy. They 
have always been held gravely illicit, both among the 
Hebrews and by the Church. 

Among the Hebrews persons having a "divining or 
pythonical spirit," that is, those by whom the spirits of 
the dead were evoked, were deemed worthy of death: 
"A man or a woman, in whom there is a pythonical or 
divining spirit, dying, let them die; they shall stone 
them; their blood be upon them." 1 The mere consulta- 
tion of such persons was considered a horrible crime; 
the Lord will destroy a soul who goes after magicians 
and soothsayers, or who observes dreams and omens or 
consults fortune-tellers, or who seeks the truth from the 
dead. 2 

Theologians classify necromancy as a kind of divina- 
tion, consisting in an explicit invocation of demons for 
the purpose of obtaining otherwise hidden truth. Saint 
Thomas Aquinas says that expressly evoked demons are 
wont to foretell future events in many ways, but at 
times through the apparitions or speech of the departed, 

1 Levit. xx:27, cfr. I. Kings xxviii:9. 

2 "The soul that shall go aside after magicians and soothsayers and shall 
commit fornication with them, I will set my face against that soul, and 
destroy it out of the midst of its people." Levit. xx:6. 

"Neither let there be found among you any one that . . . con- 
sulteth soothsayers, or observeth dreams and omens, . . . nor charmer, 
nor any one that consulteth pythonic spirits, or fortune-tellers, or that 
seek the truth from the dead. For the Lord abhorreth all these things, 
and for these abominations he will destroy them at thy coming." Deuter. 
xviii: 10-12. 

In other passages similar practices are condemned. 

IV Kings xvii:17; xxi:6; xxiii:24; Isaias viii: 19-20, etc.; Acts viii: 
9 et seq.; xiii:6-10. 



272 Moral Aspects of Spiritism 

and this kind is called necromancy. 1 Again he says that 
there are three kinds of divination, the first of which 
consists in manifest invocation of demons, which is part 
of necromantic practices. 2 Saint Alphonsus Liguori 
defines necromancy as an explicit invocation or pact 
with the devil, as when he teaches through Pythons or 
through the persons of the dead or of appearing hu- 
man beings. 3 In this regard the Theologians do not 
base their distinction between implicit and explicit 
evocation of demons upon the intention of the person 
evoking them, but rather upon the contingency whether 
or not spirits are evoked, since no matter what spirits 
are intended only the demons respond to the evocation. 
Furthermore, they assume that the purpose of evoking 
the spirits is to obtain knowledge of contingent and free 
future events and of otherwise occult and unknowable 
things. 4 The malice of divination, and consequently of 
necromancy, arises partly from the fact that its practice 
implies paying divine honors to creatures by expecting 
from them what should be expected only from God, 
partly from the pact with the devil. 5 



Our study of the phenomena of Spiritism has led us 
to the conclusion that they do not exceed the powers of 
nature and that, where deliberate fraud is absent, they 

1 "Daemones autem expresse invocati solent futura praenuntiare multi- 
pliciter: . . . quandoque vero per mortuorum aliquorum appari- 
tionem, vel locutionem: et haec species vocatur necromantia." Summa 
Theol. 2, 2ce, Q. xcv, a. 3, in corp. 

2 "Sic ergo patet, triplex esse divinations genus: quorum primum est 
per manifestam daemonum invocationem ; quod pertinet ad necroman- 
ticos" ; Op. cit. 2, 2w, Q. xcv, a. 3, in fine corporis. 

3 "Divinatio est duplex : una, in qua est invocatio, vel pactum expres- 
sum cum daemone, et generali nomine dicitur Necromantia: ut, cum 
Daemon occulta docet per Pythones . . . per personas mortuorum, 
vel virorum apparentium." Theologia Moralis," Tom. I, lib. iii, no. 6, 
cfr. Suarez, "De Religione," Tom. I, Tract. Ill, lib. ii, cap. viii. no. et 3. 

4 St. Alphonsus, Op. cit., lib. iii, no. 5 : "Divinatio est, cum quis opem 
daemonis tacite, vel expresse invocat, ut noscat res contingentes et libere 
futuras, aliterve occultas et naturaliter incognoscibiles." 

B St. Alphonsus, Op. cit., lib. iii, no. 15. 



Moral Aspects of Spiritism 273 

can be referred to psychological causes. Modern 
manuals of Moral Theology do not support our view, 
but it is to be noted that Theologians have referred the 
phenomena to diabolic agencies only where a natural 
causation would be inadequate for their explanation. 
Of course, this standpoint must be admitted, but at the 
same time it must be admitted that Psychical Research 
has failed to show the inadequacy of a natural causation 
in the vast quantity of phenomena which has fallen 
under its investigation. We believe that the devil not 
only can but actually does interfere in the order of 
things, as has been shown for instance in cases of dia- 
bolic possession, but no case should be accepted as dia- 
bolical in the absence of sufficient evidence. It is pos- 
sible, then, that spiritistic phenomena have been pre- 
ternaturally caused, but, on the other hand, over thirty 
years of careful investigation on two continents have 
failed to produce evidence for such contingency. In 
themselves, then, apart from their interpretation, the 
phenomena generally speaking must be held to be of a 
non-moral character. 

This verdict, however, is complicated by the circum- 
stances under which the phenomena occur. We do not 
speak of those fraudulently produced, for it is evident 
that such practice cannot be licit. The genuine phe- 
nomena, taken as a whole, depend upon automatic 
action on the part of the medium, exerted under the in- 
fluence of a "secondary personality," that is to say, in 
a state of dissociation of the rational faculties. This 
dissociation is usually sufficiently advanced to constitute 
the trance state, which is comparable with the somnam- 
bulistic state induced in hypnotism. First of all, we 
have to inquire into the lawfulness of inducing this state 
for the purpose of producing spiritistic phenomena. 
And besides we have to take into consideration the fact 
that the medium usually interprets her "secondary per- 
sonality" as being an external spirit taking possession 
of her. 



274 Moral Aspects of Spiritism 

Induction of the somnambulistic state, i. e., in a 
broad sense, of Hypnotism, is harmful to physical 
health as well as to morality. It arouses latent hys- 
terical nerves, and if often repeated tends to make the 
hypnotic state habitual. 1 While under the supervision of 
skilled medical men suggestion in the somnambulistic or 
in the waking state may be of highest therapeutic value, 
its exercise by the unskilled layman usually leads to dis- 
astrous results. This is true also of autosuggestion. 
Dr. Forel holds that the harm and the crime resulting 
from suggestion should be blamed chiefly upon lay peo- 
ple and in particular upon Spiritists who encourage the 
often hysterical mediums to actions which are greatly 
derogatory to their health. 2 An indiscriminate use of 
suggestion, or even encouragement of autosuggestion, 
is therefore gravely wrong, and must receive the most 
severe condemnation. 

Apart from this consideration the trance-state in- 
volves a more or less complete surrender of one's 
rational faculties, particularly of the will. The law- 
fulness of voluntary deprivation of reason is disputed 
among Theologians, the more probable opinion being 
that it can be allowed only when brought about indi- 
rectly and for a grave reason. 3 

Theologians admit the lawfulness of the use of hypno- 
tism in medical practice 4 and Genicot extends this per- 

1 Lapponi, Op. cit., p. 225. 

2 "Tatsachlich sind die Schadigungen und die Verbrechen, die der Sug- 
gestion zuzuschreiben sind, meistens das Werk von Laien, besonders von 
Spiriten. Diese Leute begreifen gar nicht, dass sie mit dem Gehirn ihrer 
meistens hysterischen "Medien" arbeiten, und muten denselben Dinge zu, 
die schliesslich die Gesundheit schwer schadigen, wenn nicht noch Betrug 
oder Attentate hinzukommen. Formliche Epidemien von hysterischen 
Anfsillen, Autohypnosen u. dergl. m. sind schon dadurch entstanden." — 
Forel "Hypnotismus" p. 273. 

3 St. Alphonsus, Op. cit., lib. v, no. 76; cfr. St. Thomas, Summa Theol. 
i, 2w, Q. lxxxviii, a. 5. 

4 Sabetti-Barrett, "Comp. Theol. Moral.," no. 209, Resp. 4° : "non omnes 
et absolute damnandos esse qui vellent, adhibitis cautelis, hypnotismum 
experiri ad bonum finem, v. gr., ad curandos morbos aliter non sanabiles." 

See also Lehmkuhl, "Theol. Moral.," vol. I, no. 502, D'Annibale, 
"Summula Theol. Moral.," vol. II, no. 53, n. 



Moral Aspects of Spiritism 275 

mission to cover cases of promoting knowledge in 
sciences such as psychology and medicine. 1 There is no 
reason why such permission should not include auto- 
suggestion. The Holy Office, pronouncing upon ex- 
periments in suggestion undertaken in the name of 
medical science, forbids experiments with phenomena 
which for certain exceed the powers of nature, but 
tolerates those which are doubtful, and, a fortiori, those 
which are certainly natural. 2 

For the present we shall not consider the medium's 
interpretation of the phenomena. It is true that al- 
most all genuine mediums interpret them in the 
spiritistic sense, and it is questionable if such an inter- 
pretation at length can be avoided since, at least in the 
psychical and the majority of the physical phenomena, 
this subliminal interpretation is a necessary condition 
for their successful production. It would be difficult 
to conceive, v. g., Mrs. Piper producing automatic 
script without at least in her trance-state subliminally 
interpreting her "secondary personality" or "dissociated 
polygon" as being the person purporting to communi- 
cate. The history of Spiritism bears out this as- 
sumption, for the great majority of mediums are con- 
vinced of the distinct individuality of their "controls." 
But we shall discuss this point further in connection 
with the subjective nature of the phenomena. 

1 Genicot, "Theol. Moral.," vol. I, no. 265. 

2 "N. N. artis medicae doctor, ad. pedes Sanctitatis Vestrae provolutus, 
ut suae conscientiae consulat, humiliter petit, an liceat sibi partem habere 
in disputationibus, quae fiunt a societate scientiarum medicarum, de sug- 
gestionibus in cura puerorum innrmorum. Agitur non de discutiendis 
tantum experimentis iam factis, sed etiam de novis experimentis agendis, 
sive haec rationibus naturalibus explicari possint, sive non. . . ." 

Responsum est: "Quoad experimenta iam facta permitti posse, modo 
absit periculum superstitionis et scandali: et insuper orator paratus sit 
stare mandatis S. Sedis, et partes theologi non agant. Quoad nova ex- 
perimenta, si agatur de factis, quae certo naturae vires praeter- 
gradiantur, non licere; sin vero de hoc dubitetur, praemissa protesta- 
tione nullam partem haberi velle in factis praeternaturalibus, tolerandum, 
modo absit periculum scandali." — S. O. I., 26 iul., 1889. 



276 Moral Aspects of Spiritism 

From what has been said we may conclude that so 
far as the objective nature of the phenomena is con- 
cerned, that is, quite apart from their interpretation, 
they can not be absolutely and unconditionally con- 
demned as in themselves illicit. 

The subjective nature of the phenomena is to be 
found in their interpretation in the mind of the sitters 
and of the medium. In spiritistic practices properly so 
called the phenomena, no matter what be their actual 
nature, are referred to the agency of the souls of the 
departed. From a theological point of view we must 
return, then, to what has been said in regard to 
necromancy and consider the phenomena, this time in 
their subjective nature, in connection with diabolical 
evocation and with paying tribute to creatures which is 
due to God alone. Of course the question largely de- 
pends upon the contingency whether or not activity in 
our world on the part of the departed and by their 
own power is at all thinkable. 

The Theologians whom we have quoted deny that 
such power could be natural to the discarnate soul. 
First of all, in the present life the soul has no power 
over matter except that which it exercises through the 
body with which it is united. This is shown by the fact 
that its power over the limbs of its body totally ceases 
in the case of a limb which withers. It is in the nature 
of the soul to be the lif egiving principle of its own body, 
but this nature implies no immediate power over other 
material things. Hence, the nature of the soul remain- 
ing unchanged after death, it could be in possession of 
no power over matter in the separated state. 

But this argument is by no means convincing. We 
must admit that we have no absolute knowledge of the 
nature of the soul — as a fact it is such knowledge that 
is sought in spiritistic experiments. From the fact that 
the soul while united with the body displays no power 
over objects outside of its organism, it does not follow 



Moral Aspects of Spiritism 277 

that it does not possess such power, for its failure to 
display it may depend simply upon its limitation to the 
body by the very fact of its being united with it. It 
remains certain that the soul has power over material 
things, since it acts upon the body, and it is by no means 
clear why this power should disappear with death. 

Theologians do not deny the possibility of a purely 
spiritual being exerting power over matter, rather they 
affirm it as an actuality in the case of angels and demons 
who are capable not only of effecting locomotion of ma- 
terial objects, but also of producing effects of sense in 
the imagination of man. 1 

From this admission it follows that the nature of a 
purely spiritual substance does not exclude the posses- 
sion of such power, for which reason we think that on 
purely philosophical grounds it can not be denied in the 
case of discarnate souls. 

However, the assumption that the discarnate soul 
should actually have power to interfere in our world 
militates against human experiences, for if possessed 
it would evidently have a purpose and consequently be 
exercised. Now, it is precisely in spiritistic practices 
that this power is claimed to be exercised, and, yet, in- 
vestigation so far not only has been unable to confirm 
this claim even in a single case, but has actually brought 
strong, although not conclusive, evidence against it. 

Again, it may be said that although the discarnate 
soul may have no power to affect material objects, 
still, in a purely spiritual manner it may be able to 
communicate with the souls of living human beings. 
The existence of a manner of communication from 
mind to mind outside the ordinary channels of sense in 
what is known as telepathy and thought transference 
is fairly well established, and this may be just the means 
by which a discarnate soul can communicate directly 

1 St. Thomas, "Summa Theol.," I, Q. ex, a. 2 ; Q. cxi, a. 3 et 4. 



278 Moral Aspects of Spiritism 

with one still in the flesh. This, indeed, is in itself pos- 
sible, but it does not follow from the fact of telepathic 
communication between the living, for we cannot show 
that the nature of such communication is purely 
psychological. 

Our argument so far has failed to justify an a priori 
attitude of rejecting the possibility of interference in 
the material world or of communication on the part of 
discarnate souls. Nor is it likely that positive experi- 
mental evidence will be found in support of such an at- 
titude, although the negative evidence brought forth 
by Psychical Research goes to show that de facto such 
interference or communication does not take place. If 
we turn to Holy Writ we shall find in the texts already 
quoted a clear indication that under any circumstances 
practices of evoking the souls of the departed are 
gravely illicit. At the same time our texts do not show 
that these practices necessarily involve diabolic inter- 
course. Yet, the prohibition against them is more than 
mere positive law, for to God they are said to be an 
abomination, and a human being indulging in them is 
deemed worthy of destruction. Such terms would indi- 
cate a transgression against nature which would bear 
out our teleological argument in the preceding chapter. 

If we now return to the original question of diabolic 
intercourse in practices of evoking the spirits of the 
dead, it seems that subjectively considered the practices 
of Spiritism need not involve such malice. First of all, 
the intention of the medium and of the sitters is not to 
evoke demons, but to establish communication with the 
dead. Whether or not seances, generally speaking, 
should be considered to involve formal and explicit 
evocation of the dead is difficult to determine, but often 
this seems to be the case when the medium accommo- 
dates sitters desirous of communicating with a certain 
deceased person. Granting that the evocation of the 
dead de facto would be impossible, the only other alter- 



Moral Aspects of Spiritism 279 

native is by no means to be found in communication 
with demons, for the experimental evidence at hand in 
every case points to living human minds as the source 
of the alleged communications or to the automatism of 
the medium as that of the physical phenomena. It can- 
not, therefore, be said that attempted intercourse with 
the departed necessarily implies evocation of demons. 
Nor can we draw such a conclusion from the purpose of 
spiritistic practices in general ; for to a large extent the 
truth sought for is not in excess of the capacity of the 
human mind, and if our records are correct the truth 
and untruth which the messages convey have not been 
of a transcendental order. On the other hand, we 
should not deny that spiritistic practices may be carried 
within the ken of superstitions, such as divination and 
vain observances. Whether or not this is actually the 
case must, however, be determined in individual in- 
stances. 

The basic malice in spiritistic practices is to be found 
in their opposition to the virtue of Religion in that they 
explicitly attribute to creatures what belongs to God 
alone. For our knowledge of a future lif e and of those 
who have already entered upon it can come only from 
God. To seek it from the spirits of the departed, then, 
is not only vain and useless, but is an explicit paying 
of divine honor and tribute to them. Besides this basic 
malice of superstition the spiritistic practices involve a 
direct danger of religious perversion in so far as the 
lucubrations of the mediums are accepted as revealed re- 
ligious truths. But we have already dealt sufficiently 
with this point. Finally, although remote, the danger 
of diabolical intercourse can not be said to be totally 
absent. 



From what we have said it follows that the practice 
of Spiritism, whether as medium or as inquirer, can 



280 Moral Aspects of Spiritism 

under no circumstances escape the condemnation of be- 
ing gravely illicit. In confirmation of this conclusion 
we refer to the decree of the Holy Office of March 30, 
1898. 1 

On the other hand it can not be denied that scientifi- 
cally conducted experiments with mediums have both 
led to advancement in psychological science and helped 
to check the spread of superstition by uncovering fraud 
and furnishing natural explanations of the phenomena. 
We have shown that considering the objective nature of 
the phenomena in itself there is nothing unlawful in 
their provocation so long as the medium is safeguarded 
against injury. But even though the investigator 
should be immune from superstition, this is rarely the 
case with the medium. 

Till recently Theologians have considered it allow- 
able to join a circle already prepared for performance 
if the sitter in question renounces all intercourse with 
spirits, and takes a merely passive part in the perform- 
ance as such, provided that there is a laudable reason 
for participation, such as investigation of the causes of 
the phenomena or exposure of fraud, and that all 
danger of perversion and scandal is excluded. For 
under such circumstances his cooperation is remote and 
given for a grave reason. 



1 Quaesitum : "Titius exclusa omni conventione cum spiritu maligno, 
evocare solet animas defunctorum. Ita procedit: Solus, sine quibuscum- 
que caeremoniis, preces dirigit ad ducem militiae coelestis, ut ille sibi 
concedat facultatem loquendi cum spiritu alicuius determinatae personae. 
Aliquantulum expectat, dein manum compositam as scribendum sentit 
moveri, quo certior fit de praesentia spiritus. Ipse exponit quae scire 
cupit, et maims scribit responsa ad ea quae ipse proposuerat. Responsa 
concordant omnia cum fide et doctrina Ecclesiae circa vitam futuram; 
spectant plerumque statum in quo reperiatur anima alicuius defuncti, 
necessitatem quam habet recipiendi iuvaminis ex suffragiis, quaerimonias 
de negligentia cognatorum. — Quibus expositis, quaeritur, num licitus sit 
agendi modus Titii." 

Resp. "Uti exponitur, non licere." 

Approved by H. H. Leo XIII April 1, 1898. See Analecta Ecclesiastica? 
VI, 187. 



Moral Aspects of Spiritism 281 

In 1917, however, the Holy Office published a decree 
according to which even such passive assistance is for- 
bidden. 1 The question proposed to the Holy Office 
specifically inquired whether it was allowable to take 
part in any spiritistic communications or manifesta- 
tions, even of an unfraudulent and reverential nature, 
either by interrogating the "souls" or spirits, or by 
listening to their answers, or as a simple spectator 
tacitly or expressly protesting that he wishes to have 
nothing to do with the malign spirits. The decree 
clearly contemplates active or passive presence at 
spiritistic seances, and rightly condemns it. Whether 
the decree contemplates laboratory work with entranced 
persons, which is conducted wholly without reference to 
spirits of any kind, is not stated. And until the decree 
is extended to cover even this aspect of the case, we do 
not presume to enlarge its very definitely expressed 
scope by claiming that it condemns the foe of Spiritism 
along with Spiritism itself. 



1 Suprema Sacra Congregatio 8. Officii. De Spiritismo. 24 apr. 1917 — 
In plenario conventu habito ab Emis ac Rmis Dnis Cardinalibus in rebus 
fidei et morum Inquisitoribus Generalibus, proposito dubio: "An liceat 
per Medium, ut vocant, vel sine Medio, adhibito vel non hypnotismo, 
locutionibus aut manifestationibus epiritisticis quibuscumque adsistere, 
etiam speciem honestatis vel pietatis praeseferentibus, sive interrogando 
animas aut spiritus, sive audiendo responsa, sive tantum aspiciendo, etiam 
cum protestatione tacita vel expressa nullam cum malignis spiritibus 
partem se habere velle." — Iidem Emi ac Rmi Patres respondendum de- 
creverunt. "Negative in omnibus.'" 

Et Feria v, die 26 eiusdem mensis, Ssmus D. N. D. Benedictus Div. 
Prov. P. P. XV relatam sibi Emorum Patrum resolutionem adprobavit. 

Datum Romae, etc., die 17 aprilis 1917. — See The Ecclesiastical Review, 
Aug. 1917, p. 186. 



10 



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Caroli, G. M., "Del Magnetismo Animale ossia Mesmerismo in Ordine 
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Farmer, John S., "A New Basis of Belief in Immortality," London, 1881. 

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Genicot, Ed., "Theologiae M oralis Institutions," Louvain, 1896. 

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INDEX. 



"Abercromby, Blanche," 100, 101. 

Abnormal mental states, phenomena 
of, 181. 

Absent-mindedness, 185. 

Adare, Lord, 58, 59, 141, 142. 

Aksakov, 126, 147. 

Alteration in weight of medium, 148- 
150, 160-161. 
of physical objects, 55-57. 

Analgesia in somnambulism, 185. 

Anaesthesia in somnambulism, 185. 

Andenino, Dr., 156. 

Animal Electricity, 120. 

Animal Magnetism, see Mesmerism. 

Apparitions, 72, 73, 91-93. 
collective, 91-92. 
individual, 92-93. 
of the dead, 23. 

Apport, 23, 52-55. 

Astral substance, 27. 

Auto-suggestion, 186. 

Automatic painting, 32. 

Automatic speaking, 23, 32, 93-114. 
compared with certain psycho- 
logical cases, 193-194. 

Automatic writing, 23, 24, 32, 93-101, 
101-108, 114. 
compared with certain psycho- 
logical cases, 193-194. 

Automatically registering apparatus 
for control of mediums, 
55-57, 156-158, 171, 195. 

Automatism, 181, 183, 185. 
motor, 186, 190-193. 

"Ave Roma Immortalis," cross cor- 
respondence, 108-109, 239- 
241. 

Baggally, Mr., 161, 163, 165. 

Baily, medium, 128, 131. 

Balfour, Rt. Hon. Gerald, 38, 235. 

Ballet, Mr., 159. 



Barrett, Sir William F., 33, 209 n , 216, 

222, 245. 
experiments in thought trans- 
ference by, 202 Q . 
Bastian, medium, 31, 131. 
"Beauchamp, Christine L.," case of, 

187-189. 
"Beauchamp, Sally," 187, 188, 189. 
Bergson, Henri, 155. 
Bertrand, Alexandre, 13. 
Bien Boa, "materialized spirit," 79, 

176, 177. 
Boirac, Emile, 198, 206. 

hypnotism at a distance by, 205, 

209 n . 
Botazzi, Prof., 155. 
Braid, 13. 

Browning, Robert, 136. 
Buffern, Prof., 147. 
Buguet, spirit-photographer, 82. 
Cambridge sittings with Eusapia 

Palladino, 152-155, 195, 

221. 
Carancini, medium, 42. 
Carquieranne sittings with Eusapia 

Palladino, 151-152. 
Carrara, Mme., 40. 
Carrington, Here ward, 40, 82, 129 n , 

134, 154, 156, 157 n , 161, 

163, 164, 165, 166, 169 n , 

170, 171. 
Cathodic rays, 120. 
Census of Hallucinations, 200, 201. 
Christianity, opposition of Spiritism 

to, 248-250. 
Clairaudience, 199. 
Clairvoyance, 181, 183, 197, 199. 
Colchester, medium, 27. 
Conan Doyle, Sir Arthur, 43, 249, 

253, 256. 
Conjurers' tricks, 164. 



288 



Index 



Conklin, medium, 27. 

Continental investigations of Eusapia 

Palladino, 155-161. 
Conway, Moncure, 31. 
Cook, Florence, medium, 26, 28, 33, 

76, 77, 78, 127, 131, 134, 

172, 173, 174, 175. 
caught in fraud, 26. 

Corner, Mrs., medium, 127. 
Cousden, Mile., secondary personality 

of, 190. 
Courtier, Jules, 159, 160. 
Coventry, Dr., 19. 
Cox, Sergeant, 33, 42, 43. 
Craddock, medium, 131. 
Crawford, Marion, "Ave Roma Im- 

mortalis," 241 . 

n 

Crookes, Sir William, 33, 42, 48, 49, 
55, 56, 57, 58, 63, 64, 68, 
70, 73, 76, 77, 78, 86, 120, 
122, 127, 128, 133, 134, 
135, 136, 137, 138, 139, 
140, 143, 151, 171, 172, 

173, 174, 175. 
experiments with Home, 48-49, 

55-57, 91-92, 134-143. 
experiments with Miss Cook, 76- 
78, 171-175. 
Crookes, Lady, 42. 
Cross correspondence, 108-114, 238. 
notion of, 238. 
evidential value of, 239. 
emerging with Mrs. Verrall, 38. 
"Ave Roma Immortalis," 108- 

109, 239-241. 
"Hope-Star-Browning," 244. 
Latin message, 244. 
"Light in the West," 110. 
"Sesame and Lilies," 110-114, 
241-244. 
Crystal-gazing, 115-118. 
Curie, Prof, 155, 159. 
Curie, Mme., 155, 159. 



d'Alesi, Mme. Hugo, secondary per- 
sonality of, 189-190. 

d'Arsonval, 159. 

Damiani, medium, 39. 

Davenport brothers, 126. 

Davey, S. J., 86, 129. 

Davis, Andrew Jackson, 15, 20. 

Dee, Dr., 115. 

de Gasparin, Count Agenor, 28, 32- 
33, 120. 

de Guldenstubbe, Baron, 85. 

Delgais, Raphael, 39. 

de Rochas, Count, 42. 

Dialectical Society, London, 140-143. 

Disaggregation, hyperpolygonal, 184. 
intrapolygonal, 185. 

Dorr, G. B., 36, 38, 166, 234, 235, 236, 
237. 

Draper, Mrs., medium, 23, 88. 

Duguid, David, medium, 32. 

du Prel, Charles, 147. 

Edmonds, John W., 21. 

Eglinton, medium, 29, 86, 87, 129, 
131. 

Eldred, Charles, medium, 131. 

Elongation of human body, 67-68. 

Ermacora, Dr., 147. 

Esperance, Mme., 32. 

Fairlamb, Miss, medium, 28. 

Fakirs, Indian, miracles of, 11. 

Faraday, experiments with table 
turning, 196 Q . 

Fay, Eva, medium, 31. 

Feilding, Hon. Everard, 42, 161, 163, 
164, 165, 167, 221. 

Finch, Mrs., 40. 

Finzi, Prof., 147. 

Fire-test, 23. 

Fire-walks, 144-146. 

Fish, Mrs., medium, 18, 19. 

Flammarion, Camille, 40, 48, 50, 51, 
52, 54, 60, 62, 63, 75, 80, 
190. 

Fletcher, Mr., medium, 32. 



Index 



289 



Fletcher, Mrs., medium, 32. 

Flint, Dr., 19. 

Flournoy, Prof., 190, 192, 193, 209 n . 

Foa, Dr., 155, 158. 

Forbes, Mrs., 34, 179. 

automatic script of, 215. 
Forel, Dr., 274. 

case of secondary personality, 
189 Q . 
Foster, medium, 27. 
Fowler, Lottie, medium, 31, 32. 
Fox, David, 18. 
Fox, John D., 18. 
Fox, Margarete, medium, 18, 24, 31, 

88. 
Fox, Margaretta, medium, 18, 19, 20, 

24, 26, 31, 88, 131. 
Fox, Katie, medium, 18, 19, 20, 24, 
26, 31, 63-64, 86, 88, 131. 
Fraud in mediumistic practices, 26, 
194. 
Florence Cook exposed, 26. 
Fox sisters exposed, 19-20. 
Eusapia Palladino exposed, 153, 
166, 167, 168, 169, 170, 
171. 
Mediums exposed, 131. 
Spirit photographers exposed, 26- 

27. 
Freeing of hand and foot, 153, 
154, 156, 166, 167, 168, 
169, 170. 
French >and Italian investigators of 
Eusapia Palladino, 155- 
161. 
"G. P." (George Pelham), spirit con- 
trol, 35, 103, 104, 105, 
106, 107, 213-214, 264. 
psychological explanation of, 
213-214. 
Gardner, Dr., 26. 
Genicot, Edw. S. J., 274. 
Genius, 183. 
Gerosa, Prof., 147. 



Ghosts, belief in, 11. 

Gilbert, Dr., hypnotism at a distance, 

205. 
Grasset, Dr., 182, 189. 

system of polygonal psychology, 

182, 184-185. 
Grocyn, "spirit," 65, 92, 128, 195. 
Guppy, Mrs., medium, 31. 
Gurney, Edmund, 36, 98, 199, 214. 

spirit control of, 107. 
Guzik, Jan, 127. 
Hall, Stanley, Dr., 36. 
Hallucinations, census of, 200-201. 
veridical, 200, 201. 
individual, 200, 201. 
collective, 201. 
Harding, Mrs. Emma, 32. 
Hare, Robert, Dr., 21, 33, 34, 133, 

134. 
Harris, T. L., Rev., medium, 25. 
Hart, John, 103, 104. 
Hauffe, Frederica, 14. 
Hayden, Mrs., medium, 21, 25. 
Henderson, Mr., medium, 31. 
Herlitzka, Dr., 155. 
Heme, F., medium, 28, 31, 67, 131. 
Hodgson, Richard, Dr., 35, 36, 103, 

107, 152, 153, 179 n , 237. 
spirit control of, 107, 235, 237, 

238. 
"Holland," Mrs., 34, 38, 108, 109, 110, 

179, 241. 
script of, 215, 216, 218, 218- 

222, 237-238, 239, 240, 

241, 243. 
Holmes, Mrs., medium, 31. 
Home, Daniel Dunglas, medium, 24- 

25, 33, 48, 49, 51, 55, 56, 

57, 58, 59, 67, 68, 91, 126, 

128, 129, 131 n , 134, 135, 

136, 137, 138, 139, 140, 

141, 142, 143, 146. 
"Hope-Star-Browning" incident, 244. 



290 



Index 



Howard, James and Mary, 104, 106, 
213. 

Hudson, Miss, medium, 32. 

Hyperesthesia in automatism, 185. 

Hypnotism, 181, 183, 185, 186. 

induction of, at a distance, 205. 
lawfulness of, 274, 275. 

Hyslop, James H., Prof., 208. 

He de Roubaud sittings, 150. 

Imoda, Dr., 156. 

Immortality, not proven by Spiritism, 
257-258, 264-265. 

Imperator-band, 29, 35, 36, 264. 

Impressions of human forms, 
in plastic substance, 79-82. 
on blackened paper, 81-82. 

Institute Generate Psychologique, 
investigation of Eusapia Palla- 
dino by, 155, 159-161, 168. 

James, William, Prof., 35, 214, 238. 

Janet, Pierre, Dr., 205. 

Jencken, Mrs., medium, 20. 

Johnson, Alice, 38, 110, 153, 168, 203, 
204, 220, 221, 222 Q , 238, 
239, 240, 243. 
experiments in thought trans- 
ference by, 203, 204. 

Jung-Stilling, J. H., 14. 

Kane, Mrs., medium, 20. 

Kardec, Allan, 28, 251. 

Kerner, Julius, Dr., 14. 

King, John (spirit), 23, 26, 39, 40, 
41, 58, 76, 170, 196. 

King, Katie (spirit), 23, 26, 76, 77, 
78, 79, 127, 128, 171, 172, 
173, 174, 175. 

Kirkham, Elizabeth, 98. 
Fanny, 98. 

Koons, spiritistic seances of, 22, 89. 

Lang, Andrew, 144, 146. 

Lankester, Ray, 31. 

Lapponi, G., Dr., 233 n , 274 Q . 

Latin message (cross correspond- 
ence), 244. 



Lee, Dr., 19. 

Lehmann and Hansen, criticism of 
experiments in thought 
transference, 204 Q . 
Lehmkuhl, Aug., S. J., 274 Q . 
Lethe incident, 234-237. 
Levitation, 23. 

of human body, 58-59. 
of seance table, 150. 
"Light in the West" (cross corre- 
spondence), 110. 
Lindsay, Master of, 58, 67, 68, 140, 

141, 142, 143. 
Lodge, Sir Oliver, 36, 43, 60, 151, 152, 
155, 209 n , 214, 215, 222, 
223, 238, 249, 253. 
Lombroso, Prof., 41, 48, 50, 147, 155, 
156. 
experiments with Eusapia Palla- 
dino, 147. 
Lord, Prof., 167. 
Love scenes at seances, 61. 
Lyon, Dr., 15. 
Mac, Miss, 110, 111, 112, 113, 244. 

script of, 241, 242, 243. 
Maeterlinck, Maurice, 201, 211. 
Marshall, Mrs., medium, 25. 
Marriott, Mr., 167. 
Martian romance of Helene Smith, 

191-192. 
Maskelyne, J. W., 131 n , 153. 
Materialization, 23, 26, 72-79, 122, 
123, 124, 126-127, 130, 
171-177. 
of Katie King, 76-79, 171-175. 
of Villa Carmen, 79, 176-177. 
photographs of, 77-78. 
scientific investigation of, 171- 
175, 175-177. 
Maxwell, Joseph, Dr., 64, 154, 221. 
Mediums, early, in England, 28-29. 
later, 34. 
photographic control of, 169. 



Index 



291 



physical examination of, 159. 
psychical, 32, 179. 
Mediumship, 27. 

analysis of, 185-193. 
Mellon, Mrs., medium, 28-29, 131. 
Merrifield, Mr., 135. 
Mesmer Anthon, 12, 120. 
Mesmerism, 12-13, 20, 27, 28, 90, 120. 

in North America, 14-15. 
Metamorphoses, Ovidii, reference to 
in Piper communications, 
235-236. 
Milan commission investigating 
Eusapia Palladino, 147- 
150. 
Miles, Clarissa, 34. 

experiments in thought trans- 
ference by, 203-204, 207. 
Monck, medium, 28. 
Morse, J. J., medium, 32, 67. 
Morselli, Enrico, Dr., 155. 
Moses, William Stainton, Rev., 29-31, 
38, 43, 52, 54, 58, 59, 63, 
65, 66, 69, 70, 82, 83, 84, 
92, 93, 95, 96, 97, 98, 99, 
100, 101, 128, 133, 177, 
178, 179, 194-195, 250- 
251, 262, 264. 
career of, 29-31. 
discussion of case of, 177-178, 

179. 
phenomena of, in the light of 

psychology, 194-195. 
religious doctrines of, 250-251. 
Moses, Mrs., 99. 

Movement of inanimate objects, 46- 
52. 
without contact, 48-52. 
Mumler, spirit-photographer, 26-27. 
Munsterberg, Hugo, Prof., 166, 170. 
Myers, Frederic, W. H., 30, 36, 37, 
38, 89, 93, 98, 99, 101, 110, 
132, 151, 152, 153, 154, 
155, 177, 199, 207, 209 . 



221, 222, 223, 224, 225, 
226, 227, 229, 230, 233, 
236, 252-253. 
spirit control, 37, 107, 185 Q , 217, 
238, 245. 
in Mrs. Holland's script, 218- 

222. 
in Mrs. Verrall's script, 222- 

223. 
in Mrs. Piper's communica- 
tions, 223-237. 
not identical with Myers, 185 Q . 
Latin message, 244. 
Lethe incident, 234-237. 
Terling incident, 224-233. 
reference to sealed envelope, 222- 

223. 
religious doctrine of, 252-253. 
Myers, Frederic W. H., Mrs., 153. 
Naples sittings with Eusapia Palla- 
dino in 1908, 161-165, 169, 
170, 195. 
in 1910, 167-168, 171. 
Necromancy, 9-10, 271, 272, 276. 
ancient practices of, 11. 
unlawfulness of, 272. 
nature of, 271-272. 
Nelly (spirit control), 37. 
New York sittings with Eusapia 
Palladino, 147, 165-167, 
170. 
Ochorowicz, Dr., 42, 80, 81, 128, 151, 

152 n , 155. 
Od, 120-121. 

Olive, Mrs., medium, 32. 
Ouija board, 186 Q . 
Owen, Robert D., 25, 26, 250, 251. 

religious doctrines of, 250, 251. 
Parks, Mr., spirit-photographer, 27, 

82. ' 
Palladino, Eusapia, 34, 38-40, 41, 46, 
47, 49, 50, 51, 52, 54, 57, 
58, 61, 63, 64, 65, 74, 75, 
79, 80, 81, 82, 127, 128, 



292 



Index 



131, 139, 147-150, 152, 
153, 154, 155, 158, 159, 
160, 161, 163 Q , 164, 165, 
166, 167, 168, 169, 170, 
185, 194, 219, 220. 
career of, 38-41. 
fraud of, 41, 194. 
investigation of, 41, 146-171. 
Cambridge sittings, 41, 147, 

152-155, 195. 
Committee of S. P. R., 161-165. 
French and Italian investi- 
gations, 147, 155-161. 
He de Roubaud sittings, 150- 

152. 
Institute Generale Psycholo- 

gique, 155, 159-161. 
Lombroso's experiments, 147. 
Milan sittings, 57, 75, 79, 80, 
81, 82, 127, 128, 131, 139, 
147-150. 
Naples sittings in 1908, 161- 
165, 169, 170, 195. 
in 1910, 167-168, 171. 
New York sittings, 41, 147, 

165-167, 170. 
Turin sittings, 156-158. 
phenomena of, in light of psy- 
chology, 195-197. 
reference to by the "Myers" 
control, 219-220. 
Pelham, George, see George Pelham 

(G. P.). 
Perrin, 159. 

Perrone, Jo., S. J., 268. 
Personality, human, 182. 
disintegration of, 183. 
dissociation of, 181. 
theories regarding, 181-185. 
Grasset's theory, 182, 184-185. 
Myers' theory of the sub- 
liminal self, 182-184. 
Perty, Maximilian, 28. 



Peters, Mr., medium, 67, 68. 
P6tetin, 120. 
Phelps, Rev., 20. 

Phenomena of Spiritism, 18, 19, 22- 
24, 45-118. 
claim to preternatural causation, 

119. 
classification of, 45. 
morality of, 273-281. 
physical, 45-66, 67-89. 

explanatory hypotheses, 120. 
fraud in, 123-136. 
a priori argument for, 124- 

133. 
in Home's phenomena, 135- 

136. 
in Palladino's phenomena, 
41, 194. 
investigation of, 133-144, 146- 

171, 171-177. 
natural force theory, 120-122. 
notion and definition of, 45- 

46. 
production by mechanical 
means, 129. 
psychical, 90-118. 
investigation of, 178. 
notion and definition of, 90. 
Phinuit (spirit control), 35, 101, 
102, 103, 105, 107. 
as a secondary personality, 213. 
Photographic control of mediums, 

169. 
Physical examination of medium and 
surroundings before 

seances, 159. 
Physical mediums, genuine, 179. 
Piddington, Mr., 36, 38, 216, 224, 

227, 231, 235. 
Pigou, Prof., 38. 

Piper, Mrs., 34, 38, 101, 102, 103, 
106, 110, 179, 213, 214, 
215, 218, 223, 231, 232, 



Index 



293 



236, 264, 275. 
career of, 35-37. 

communications of, 213-214, 223- 
227, 228, 244. 
Planchette writing, 87, 130. 
Podmore, Frank, 34, 37, 38, 129, 138, 
139, 141, 142, 143, 161, 
162, 165, 177, 179 n , 199, 
201, 213, 216, 217, 222 n , 
234 n , 238 n , 244. 
Poltergeist-phenomena, 46. 

historical cases of, 11-12, 20. 
Politi, Auguste, medium, 41-42, 47, 

72. 
Prince, Morton, Dr., 187, 188, 189. 
Production of objects and substances, 

69-72. 
Psychical Research, 15, 16, 119, 133. 
Psychological Society, 33. 
Quintard, Dr., experiments in thought 

transference by, 203. 
Ramsden, Hermione, 34. 

experiments in thought trans- 
ference by, 203-204, 207. 
Randolph, P. B., medium, 25. 
Rap-messages, 83. 
Raupert, Godfrey, 82, 268. 
"Raymond," 249, 253. 
Redman, medium, 27. 
Reincarnation, Kardec's doctrine of, 

28, 251. 
Religion of Spiritism, 248-267. 
basis of, 257, 261, 262. 
claims of, 248-250. 
departure from Christianity of, 

256-257. 
doctrines of, 250-256. 
failure of, 262-267. 
Richet, Charles, 79, 147, 148, 149, 
150, 151, 155, 159, 175, 
176. 
Rita, medium, 28, 131. 
Rivail, Mr. (see Kardec), 28. 



Roman Congregations on hypnotism, 
275. 
on spiritism, 280, 281. 
Roberts, Mrs., medium, 21, 25. 
Rothe, Anna, medium, 128, 131. 
Ruskin, John, 114, 241, 242, 243. 
Sabetti-Barrett, 274 . 

' n 

Saint Alphonsus Liguori, 272, 274 Q . 
Saint Thomas Aquinas, 271, 274 Q . 
Sambor, medium, 42, 55. 
Sardou, Victorien, automatic draw- 
ing by, 190. 
Schiaparelli, Prof., 62, 147, 149. 
Secondary personalities, 185, 186-193. 
cases of "Christine L. Beau- 
champ," 187-189. 
"Helene Smith," 190-193. 
Lurancy Vennum, the "Wat- 

seka Wonder," 189 Q . 
Mile. Couesdon, 190. 
Mme. Hugo d'Alesi, 189-190. 
Dr. Forel's case, 189 Q . 
Dr. Tuckey's case, 189 n . 
"Sesame and Lilies," (cross corre- 
spondence), 110-114, 241- 
244. 
Showers, Miss, medium, 131. 
Sidgwick, Arthur, 225, 229, 230, 231, 

233. 
Sidgwick, Henry, 34, 151, 153, 154, 
155, 216, 223, 224, 229, 
231, 232. 
experiments in thought trans- 
ference, 204. 
spirit control of, 107, 110, 112, 
216-217, 244. 
psychologically explained, 216- 
217, 244. 
Sidgwick, Mrs., 83, 125, 217, 223, 
224, 225, 226, 227, 228, 
229, 230, 231, 232, 233. 
experiments in thought trans- 
ference, 203, 204. 
on spurious phenomena, 125. 



294 



Index 



Slade, Henry, medium, 31, 34, 129, 
131, 133. 
exposed in fraud, 31. 
Slate writing, 86, 87. 

exposed by Davey, 86. 
Sleep, 183, 184. 
"Smith, Helene," case of, 190-193, 

194. 
Smith, Langdon, on Evolution, 265. 
Society for Psychical Research, 30, 
34, 153, 161. 
investigation of Eusapia Palla- 
dino, by Committee of, 
161-165. 
American, 152. 
Society of Harmony, 13, 14. 
Solovovo, Count Perovsky Petrovo, 

124, 167, 168. 
Solovovo, Countess, 167, 171. 
Somnambulism, 185. 
Soul, human, powers of after death, 

276-278. 
Sounds, 62-66. 

raps, 62-63, 64, 65. 
thuds, 63, 64. 
musical, 65-66. 
Spear, Charlton, 70, 84. 
Spear, John Murray, 21, 24. 
Spear, Stanthorpe, Dr., 29, 52, 70, 84, 

85, 93, 178. 
Spear, Stanthorpe, Mrs. 29, 70, 84. 
Spirit faces, see Impressions. 
Spirit identity, 212-247. 
evidential matter, 212. 
the G. P. control, 213-214. 
Phinuit control, 213. 
Gurney control, 215-216. 
Sidgwick control, 216-217. 
Myers control, 217-237. 
Hodgson control, 235, 237-238. 
cross correspondence, 238-245. 
conclusion, 245-247. 
Spirit lights, 69, 70, 71, 72. 
Spirit messages, direct, 83-89. 



Spirit-photographers, exposed in 

fraud, 131. 
Spirit-photography, 26, 27, 82-83. 

fraud in, 26-27. 
Spirit scent, 69. 
Spirit telegraphy, 23, 87-88. 
Spirit voices, 89. 
Spirit writing, direct, 83-86. 
Spiritism, appearance of in the 
United States, 9. 
appearance of in Europe, 21, 22, 

25. 
definition of term, 9. 
early converts to, 21. 
early mediums, 24-25. 
early seances, 22-24. 
early theories, 27-28. 
English mediums, 28-31. 
history of, 18-44. 
later American mediums, 31. 
later metaphysics of, 42-43. 
later mediums, 34-42. 
moral aspects of, 268-281. 
religious aspects of, 16, 17, 43- 

44, 248-267. 
scientific investigation of, 32-34, 
see also under proper 
headings, 
statistics on, 44. 
Spiritualism, meaning of term, 9 n . 
Squire, medium, 27. 
Stokes, Miss, medium, 29. 
Subliminal self, theory of, 182-184. 
Suggestion, 181, 183. 
Swedenborg, Emanuel, 13, 90, 210. 
Swedenborgianism, 13-14, 27. 
Symposium (Plato's) referred to by 
the "Myers" control, 222, 
223. 
Table levitation, 47-48. 
Table turning, 22, 46-47. 

Faraday's experiment with, 
196 Q . 
Tallmadge, 24. 



Index 



295 



Tambourine Marey, experiments 

with, 156-158. 
Tanner, Amy, 36. 
Tappan, Cora, L. V. (Richmond), 

32. 
Taylor, medium, 31, 131. 
Telaesthesia, 197, 198. 

case of Mme. Hortense, 211. 
Swedenborg, 210. 
Maeterlinck's case, 210-211. 
definition of, 199. 
evidence for telaesthetic phe- 
nomena, 209-211. 
Telekinesis, see movement of inani- 
mate objects. 
Telepathy, 183, 197. 
definition of, 198. 
evidence for phenomena of, 199- 

209. 
experimental cases of, see 

thought transference, 
spontaneous cases of, 199-201. 
Telepsychism, 197, 198. 
Terling incident, test case, 224-233. 
Thompson, Mrs., 34, 37-38, 89, 93, 
179, 217. 
career of, 37-38. 
Thought transference, 181, 197, 198. 
definition of, 198. 
experiments in, 201-205. 
Prof. Barrett's experiments, 

202. 
n 

Mr. Guthrie's experiments, 202. 
Misses Miles' and Ramsden's ex- 
periments, 203-204, 207. 
Mrs. Sidgwick's and Alice John- 
son's experiments, 203, 
204. 
Prof, and Mrs. Sidgwick's ex- 
periments, 204. 
Thurstan, F. W., 37. 
Thury, Prof., 28, 33. 
Tomczyk, Mile., medium, 42. 



Touches, 60-62. 

Touching of burning substances, see 

fire-test. 
Towns, Mr., medium, 32. 
Trance state, 185. 
Transportation, 31. 
Trowbridge, Prof., 166. 
Tuckey, C. Lloyd, Dr. 

case of secondary personality, 

189 . 

n 

Turin sittings with Eusapia Paila- 
dino, 156-158. 

Tyson incident, 107, 213. 

psychological explanation of, 
213. 

Varley, Cromwell, 43. 

Vennum, Lurancy, case of, 189 n . 

Verrall, Dr., 109, 222, 240. 

Verrall, Miss., 34, 111, 112, 113, 179. 
script of, 242, 244. 

Verrall, Mrs., 38, 108, 109, 110, 111, 
112, 113, 114, 116, 179, 
222, 223, 225, 226, 227, 
230, 231, 233, 235, 236, 
239, 240, 241, 243, 245. 
experiments in thought trans- 
ference, 202. 
script of, 215, 216, 217, 218, 
239, 240, 241, 242, 243, 
244. 

Villa Carmen, materializations of, 
79, 127, 175-177. 

von Erhardt, Baron, 42. 

von Reichenbach, 120. 

"Watseka Wonder," the, 189 and . 

Westoby, Fanny, 98, 99. 

Wharton, Peter (spirit control), 37. 

Williams, Charles, medium, 28, 131. 

Wood, Miss, medium, 28, 131. 

Wynne, Capt., 141. 

Zollner, Johann, Prof., 33-34, 54, 133, 
134. 



BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE. 

Baron Johan Liljencrants was born in Nykoping in 
Sweden in 1885. Having completed college course in 
Stockholm, he entered the Royal Svea Guards, gradu- 
ated from the Royal War School of Karlberg, and re- 
ceived commission as second lieutenant in 1906. He 
was made Officier de l'Academie in 1908. In 1910 he 
came to the United States of America, where he was re- 
ceived in the Catholic Church, and in 1913 he registered 
as a postgraduate student at Princeton University. In 
the same year he received the degree of Master of Arts. 
After a year's ecclesiastical training in Saint Mary's 
Seminary in Baltimore, he registered for postgraduate 
studies in Sacred Sciences at the Catholic University of 
America, following the courses of Dr. John W. Melody, 
and later of Dr. John A. Ryan in Moral Theology, 
Monsignor Filippo Bernardini in Canon Law, Dr. 
Daniel J. Kennedy, O. P., in Sacramental Theology, 
and Dr. Sigourney W. Fay in Liturgy. He was or- 
dained to the Priesthood by His Eminence Cardinal 
Gibbons in 1915. 
















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